Associated with the Sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. According to some sources, the phoenix dies in a show of flames and combustion, although there are other sources that claim that the legendary bird dies and simply decomposes before being born again.[1] According to some texts, the phoenix could live over 1,400 years before rebirth.[2]Herodotus, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Pope Clement I, Lactantius, Ovid, and Isidore of Seville are among those who have contributed to the retelling and transmission of the phoenix motif.

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The modern English noun phoenix derives from Middle Englishphenix (before 1150), itself from Old Englishfēnix (around 750). Old English fēnix was borrowed from Medieval Latin phenix, which is derived from Classical Latin phoenīx, the Classical Latin phoenīx represents Greek φοῖνιξ phoinīx.[4]

In ancient Greece and Rome, the bird, φοῖνιξ, was sometimes associated with the similar-sounding Phoenicia, a civilization famous for its production of purple dye from conch shells. A late antique etymology offered by the 6th- and 7th-century CE archbishop Isidore of Seville accordingly derives the name of the phoenix from its allegedly purple-red hue, because the costly purple dye from Phoenicia was associated with the upper classes in antiquity and, later, with royalty, in the medieval period the phoenix was considered "the royal bird".[5]

In spite of these folk etymologies, with the deciphering of the Linear B script in the 20th century, the original Greek φοῖνιξ was decisively shown to be derived from Mycenaean Greekpo-ni-ke, itself open to a variety of interpretations.[6]

Classical discourse on the subject of the phoenix points to a potential origin of the phoenix in Ancient Egypt; in the 19th century scholastic suspicions appeared to be confirmed by the discovery that Egyptians in Heliopolis had venerated the Bennu, a solar bird observed in some respects to be similar to the Greek phoenix. However, the Egyptian sources regarding the bennu are often problematic and open to a variety of interpretations, some of these sources may have actually been influenced by Greek notions of the phoenix, rather than the other way around.[7]

Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BC, gives a somewhat skeptical account of the phoenix:

"[The Egyptians] have also another sacred bird called the phoenix which I myself have never seen, except in pictures. Indeed it is a great rarity, even in Egypt, only coming there (according to the accounts of the people of Heliopolis) once in five hundred years, when the old phoenix dies, its size and appearance, if it is like the pictures, are as follow:- The plumage is partly red, partly golden, while the general make and size are almost exactly that of the eagle. They tell a story of what this bird does, which does not seem to me to be credible: that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the parent bird, all plastered over with myrrh, to the temple of the Sun, and there buries the body; in order to bring him, they say, he first forms a ball of myrrh as big as he finds that he can carry; then he hollows out the ball, and puts his parent inside, after which he covers over the opening with fresh myrrh, and the ball is then of exactly the same weight as at first; so he brings it to Egypt, plastered over as I have said, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun. Such is the story they tell of the doings of this bird."[8]

The phoenix is sometimes pictured in ancient and medieval literature and medieval art as endowed with a nimbus, which emphasizes the bird's connection with the Sun;[9] in the oldest images of phoenixes on record these nimbuses often have seven rays, like Helios (the personified sun of Greek mythology).[10] Pliny the Elder[11] also describes the bird as having a crest of feathers on its head,[9] and Ezekiel the Dramatist compared it to a rooster.[12]

Although the phoenix was generally believed to be colorful and vibrant, sources provide no clear consensus about its coloration. Tacitus says that its color made it stand out from all other birds.[13] Some said that the bird had peacock-like coloring, and Herodotus's claim of red and yellow is popular in many versions of the story on record.[14] Ezekiel the Dramatist declared that the phoenix had red legs and striking yellow eyes,[12] but Lactantius said that its eyes were blue like sapphires[15] and that its legs were covered in scales of yellow-gold with rose-colored talons.[16]

Herodotus, Pliny, Solinus, and Philostratus describe the phoenix as similar in size to an eagle,[17] but Lactantius and Ezekiel the Dramatist both claim that the phoenix was larger, with Lactantius declaring that it was even larger than an ostrich.[18]

Nor shall this peace sleep with her; but as when
The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,
Her ashes new create another heir
As great in admiration as herself;
So shall she leave her blessedness to one,
When heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness,
Who from the sacred ashes of her honour
Shall star-like rise as great in fame as she was,
And so stand fix'd.

1.
Greek mythology
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It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a collection of narratives. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines. These accounts initially were disseminated in a tradition, today the Greek myths are known primarily from ancient Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homers epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War, archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles, in the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has had an influence on the culture, arts. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes, Greek mythology is known today primarily from Greek literature and representations on visual media dating from the Geometric period from c. Mythical narration plays an important role in every genre of Greek literature. Nevertheless, the only general mythographical handbook to survive from Greek antiquity was the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus and this work attempts to reconcile the contradictory tales of the poets and provides a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends. Apollodorus of Athens lived from c, 180–125 BC and wrote on many of these topics. His writings may have formed the basis for the collection, however the Library discusses events that occurred long after his death, among the earliest literary sources are Homers two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Other poets completed the cycle, but these later and lesser poems now are lost almost entirely. Despite their traditional name, the Homeric Hymns have no connection with Homer. They are choral hymns from the part of the so-called Lyric age. Hesiods Works and Days, a poem about farming life, also includes the myths of Prometheus, Pandora. The poet gives advice on the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, lyrical poets often took their subjects from myth, but their treatment became gradually less narrative and more allusive. Greek lyric poets, including Pindar, Bacchylides and Simonides, and bucolic poets such as Theocritus and Bion, additionally, myth was central to classical Athenian drama

2.
Ancient Greek
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Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek

3.
Lucan
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Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, better known in English as Lucan, was a Roman poet, born in Corduba, in the Hispania Baetica. Despite his short life, he is regarded as one of the figures of the Imperial Latin period. His youth and speed of composition set him apart from other poets, Lucan was the son of Marcus Annaeus Mela and grandson of Seneca the Elder, he grew up under the tutelage of his uncle Seneca the Younger. Born into a family, he studied rhetoric at Athens and was probably provided with a philosophical. He found success under Nero, became one of the close friends and was rewarded with a quaestorship in advance of the legal age. In 60 AD, he won a prize for extemporizing Orpheus and Laudes Neronis at the quinquennial Neronia, during this time he circulated the first three books of his epic poem, Pharsalia, which told the story of the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey. At some point, a feud began between Nero and Lucan, two very different accounts of the events have survived that both trivialize the feud. According to Tacitus, Nero became jealous of Lucan and forbade him to publish his poems, according to Suetonius, Nero lost interest in Lucan and Lucan responded by writing insulting poems about Nero that Nero continued to ignore. Other works, though, point to a serious basis to the feud. Works by the grammarian Vacca and the poet Statius may support the claim that Lucan wrote insulting poems about Nero, Vacca mentions that one of Lucans works was entitled De Incendio Urbis. Statiuss ode to Lucan mentions that Lucan described how the flames of the criminal tyrant roamed the heights of Remus. Additionally, the books of Pharsalia are anti-Imperial and pro-Republic. This criticism of Nero and office of the Emperor may have been the cause of the ban. Lucan later joined the 65 AD conspiracy of Gaius Calpurnius Piso against Nero. His treason discovered, he was obliged, at the age of 25, to suicide by opening a vein. According to Tacitus, as Lucan bled to death, recalled some poetry he had composed in which he had told the story of a soldier dying a similar kind of death. His father was involved in the proscription but his mother escaped, statiuss poem about Lucan was addressed to his widow, Polla Argentaria, upon the occasion of his birthday during the reign of Domitian. Cornell Studies in Classical Philology 39, ideology in Cold Blood, A Reading of Lucans Civil War

Lucan
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Bust of the Roman poet Lucan, Córdoba, Spain.
Lucan
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Engraved title page of a French edition of Lucan's Pharsalia, 1657

4.
Lactantius
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Lactantius, a Latin-speaking North African of Berber origin, was not born into a Christian family. He was a pupil of Arnobius who taught at Sicca Veneria, in his early life, he taught rhetoric in his native town, which may have been Cirta in Numidia, where an inscription mentions a certain L. Caecilius Firmianus. Lactantius had a public career at first. At the request of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, he became a professor of rhetoric in Nicomedia. Having converted to Christianity, he resigned his post before Diocletians purging of Christians from his immediate staff, as a Latin rhetor in a Greek city, he subsequently lived in poverty according to Saint Jerome and eked out a living by writing until Constantine I became his patron. The persecution forced him to leave Nicomedia and from the outbreak of hostilities until perhaps 311 or 313 he had to live elsewhere, the Emperor Constantine appointed the elderly Lactantius Latin tutor to his son Crispus. Lactantius followed Crispus to Trier in 317, when Crispus was made Caesar, Crispus was put to death in 326, but when Lactantius died and under what circumstances are unknown. Like so many of the early Christian authors, Lactantius depended on classical models, the early humanists called him the Christian Cicero. He wrote apologetic works explaining Christianity in terms that would be palatable to educated people who practiced the traditional religions of the Empire. He defended Christian beliefs against the criticisms of Hellenistic philosophers and his Divinae Institutiones were an early example of a systematic presentation of Christian thought. He was considered somewhat heretical after his death, but Renaissance humanists took a renewed interest in him and his works were copied in manuscript several times in the 15th century and were first printed in 1465 by the Germans Arnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweynheim at the Abbey of Subiaco. It was probably the book ever printed in Italy. A copy of this edition was sold at auction in 2000 for more than $1 million, according to Charles E. Hill, With Lactantius in the early fourth century we see a determined attempt to revive a more “genuine” form of chiliasm. Book VII of The Divine Institutes indicates a familiarity with Jewish, none of the fathers thus far had been more verbose on the subject of the millennial kingdom than Lactantius or more particular in describing the times and events preceding and following. He depicted Jesus reigning with the resurrected righteous on this earth during the seventh thousand years prior to the general judgment, next, God renews the earth, after the punishment of the wicked, and the Lord alone is thenceforth worshiped in the renovated earth. Lactantius confidently stated that the beginning of the end would be the fall, or breakup, de Opificio Dei, an apologetic work, written in 303 or 304 during Diocletians persecution and dedicated to a former pupil, a rich Christian named Demetrianius. The apologetic principles underlying all the works of Lactantius are well set forth in this treatise, Institutiones Divinae, written between 303 and 311. This is the most important of the writings of Lactantius and it was one of the first books printed in Italy and the first dated Italian imprint

Lactantius
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Lactantius
Lactantius
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Beginning of Lactantius’ Divinae institutiones in a Renaissance manuscript written in Florence ca. 1420–1430 by Guglielmino Tanaglia
Lactantius
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Page from the Opera, a manuscript from 1465, featuring various colours of pen-work

5.
Ovid
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Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists and he enjoyed enormous popularity, but, in one of the mysteries of literary history, was sent by Augustus into exile in a remote province on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death. Ovid himself attributes his exile to carmen et error, a poem and a mistake and his poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology, Ovid talks more about his own life than most other Roman poets. Information about his biography is drawn primarily from his poetry, especially Tristia 4.10, other sources include Seneca the Elder and Quintilian. Ovid was born in Sulmo, in an Apennine valley east of Rome, to an important equestrian family and that was a significant year in Roman politics. He was educated in rhetoric in Rome under the teachers Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro with his brother who excelled at oratory and his father wanted him to study rhetoric toward the practice of law. According to Seneca the Elder, Ovid tended to the emotional, after the death of his brother at 20 years of age, Ovid renounced law and began travelling to Athens, Asia Minor, and Sicily. Ovids first recitation has been dated to around 25 BC, when he was eighteen and he was part of the circle centered on the patron Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, and seems to have been a friend of poets in the circle of Maecenas. 4.10. 41–54, Ovid mentions friendships with Macer, Propertius, Horace, Ovid was very popular at the time of his early works, but was later exiled by Augustus in AD8. He married three times and divorced twice by the time he was thirty years old and he had one daughter, who eventually bore him grandchildren. His last wife was connected in some way to the influential gens Fabia, the first 25 years of Ovids literary career were spent primarily writing poetry in elegiac meter with erotic themes. The chronology of early works is not secure, tentative dates. 2.18. 19–26 that seems to describe the collection as a published work. The authenticity of some of these poems has been challenged, between the publications of the two editions of the Amores can be dated the premiere of his tragedy Medea, which was admired in antiquity but is no longer extant. Ovid may identify this work in his poetry as the carmen, or song. The Ars Amatoria was followed by the Remedia Amoris in the same year and this corpus of elegiac, erotic poetry earned Ovid a place among the chief Roman elegists Gallus, Tibullus, and Propertius, of whom he saw himself as the fourth member

6.
Mary (mother of Jesus)
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Mary, also known by various titles, styles and honorifics, was a 1st-century Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth and the mother of Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran. The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and the Quran describe Mary as a virgin, the miraculous birth took place when she was already betrothed to Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, the Gospel of Luke begins its account of Marys life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. According to canonical gospel accounts, Mary was present at the crucifixion and is depicted as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. According to the Catholic and Orthodox teaching, at the end of her life her body was assumed directly into Heaven. Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion and she is claimed to have miraculously appeared to believers many times over the centuries. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, there is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her status as the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, many Protestants minimize Marys role within Christianity, based on the argued brevity of biblical references. Mary also has a position in Islam, where one of the longer chapters of the Quran is devoted to her. Marys name in the manuscripts of the New Testament was based on her original Aramaic name ܡܪܝܡ‎. The English name Mary comes from the Greek Μαρία, which is a form of Μαριάμ. Both Μαρία and Μαριάμ appear in the New Testament, in Christianity, Mary is commonly referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that she conceived Jesus miraculously through the Holy Spirit without her husbands involvement. The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are Theotokos, Aeiparthenos as confirmed in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, Catholics use a wide variety of titles for Mary, and these titles have in turn given rise to many artistic depictions. For example, the title Our Lady of Sorrows has inspired such masterpieces as Michelangelos Pietà, the title Theotokos was recognized at the Council of Ephesus in 431. However, this phrase in Greek, in the abbreviated form ΜΡ ΘΥ, is an indication commonly attached to her image in Byzantine icons. The Council stated that the Church Fathers did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God, some Marian titles have a direct scriptural basis. For instance, the title Queen Mother has been given to Mary since she was the mother of Jesus, the scriptural basis for the term Queen can be seen in Luke 1,32 and the Isaiah 9,6. Queen Mother can be found in 1 Kings 2, 19-20 and Jeremiah 13, other titles have arisen from reported miracles, special appeals or occasions for calling on Mary

7.
Old English
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Old English or Anglo-Saxon is the earliest historical form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers probably in the mid 5th century, Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or North Sea Germanic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. As the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in England, their language replaced the languages of Roman Britain, Common Brittonic, a Celtic language, Old English had four main dialects, associated with particular Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Mercian, Northumbrian, Kentish and West Saxon. It was West Saxon that formed the basis for the standard of the later Old English period, although the dominant forms of Middle. The speech of eastern and northern parts of England was subject to strong Old Norse influence due to Scandinavian rule, Old English is one of the West Germanic languages, and its closest relatives are Old Frisian and Old Saxon. Like other old Germanic languages, it is different from Modern English. Old English grammar is similar to that of modern German, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs have many inflectional endings and forms. The oldest Old English inscriptions were using a runic system. Old English was not static, and its usage covered a period of 700 years, from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century to the late 11th century, some time after the Norman invasion. While indicating that the establishment of dates is a process, Albert Baugh dates Old English from 450 to 1150, a period of full inflections. Perhaps around 85 per cent of Old English words are no longer in use, Old English is a West Germanic language, developing out of Ingvaeonic dialects from the 5th century. It came to be spoken over most of the territory of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which became the Kingdom of England and this included most of present-day England, as well as part of what is now southeastern Scotland, which for several centuries belonged to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Other parts of the island – Wales and most of Scotland – continued to use Celtic languages, Norse was also widely spoken in the parts of England which fell under Danish law. Anglo-Saxon literacy developed after Christianisation in the late 7th century, the oldest surviving text of Old English literature is Cædmons Hymn, composed between 658 and 680. There is a corpus of runic inscriptions from the 5th to 7th centuries. The Old English Latin alphabet was introduced around the 9th century, with the unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms by Alfred the Great in the later 9th century, the language of government and literature became standardised around the West Saxon dialect. In Old English, typical of the development of literature, poetry arose before prose, a later literary standard, dating from the later 10th century, arose under the influence of Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester, and was followed by such writers as the prolific Ælfric of Eynsham. This form of the language is known as the Winchester standard and it is considered to represent the classical form of Old English

Old English
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A detail of the first page of the Beowulf manuscript, showing the words "ofer hron rade", i.e. "over the whale's road (=sea)". It is an example of an Old English stylistic device, the kenning.
Old English
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North Germanic
Old English
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"Her swutelað seo gecwydrædnes ðe" Old English inscription over the arch of the south porticus in the 10th-century St Mary's parish church, Breamore, Hampshire
Old English
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The first page of the Beowulf manuscript with its opening Hƿæt ƿē Gārde/na ingēar dagum þēod cyninga / þrym ge frunon... "Listen! We of the Spear-Danes from days of yore have heard of the glory of the folk-kings..."

8.
Linear B
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Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1450 BC. It is descended from the older Linear A, an earlier script used for writing the Minoan language, as is the later Cypriot syllabary. Linear B, found mainly in the archives at Knossos, Cydonia, Pylos, Thebes and Mycenae. The succeeding period, known as the Greek Dark Ages, provides no evidence of the use of writing and it is also the only one of the prehistoric Aegean scripts to have been deciphered, by English architect and self-taught linguist Michael Ventris. Linear B consists of around 87 syllabic signs and over 100 ideographic signs and these ideograms or signifying signs symbolize objects or commodities. They have no value and are never used as word signs in writing a sentence. The application of Linear B appears to have been confined to administrative contexts, in all the thousands of clay tablets, a relatively small number of different hands have been detected,45 in Pylos and 66 in Knossos. It is possible that the script was used only by a guild of professional scribes who served the central palaces, once the palaces were destroyed, the script disappeared. Linear B has roughly 200 signs, divided into syllabic signs with phonetic values, the representations and naming of these signs have been standardized by a series of international colloquia starting with the first in Paris in 1956. Colloquia continue, the 13th occurred in 2010 in Paris, many of the signs are identical or similar to those in Linear A, however, Linear A encodes an as-yet unknown language, and it is uncertain whether similar signs had the same phonetic values. The grid developed during decipherment by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick of phonetic values for syllabic signs is shown below, initial consonants are in the leftmost column, vowels are in the top row beneath the title. The transcription of the syllable is listed next to the sign along with Bennetts identifying number for the sign preceded by an asterisk, in cases where the transcription of the sign remains in doubt, Bennetts number serves to identify the sign. The signs on the tablets and sealings often show considerable variation from each other, discovery of the reasons for the variation and possible semantic differences is a topic of ongoing debate in Mycenaean studies. Many of these were identified by the edition and are shown in the special values below. The second edition relates, It may be taken as axiomatic that there are no true homophones, the unconfirmed identifications of *34 and *35 as ai2 and ai3 were removed. Other values remain unknown, mainly because of scarcity of evidence concerning them, note that *34 and *35 are mirror images of each other but whether this graphic relationship indicates a phonetic one remains unconfirmed. In recent times, CIPEM inherited the authority of Bennett

9.
Bennu
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The Bennu is an ancient Egyptian deity linked with the sun, creation, and rebirth. It may have been the inspiration for the phoenix in Greek mythology, according to Egyptian mythology, the Bennu was a self-created being said to have played a role in the creation of the world. It was said to be the ba of Ra and enabled the creative actions of Atum and it was said to have flown over the waters of Nun that existed before creation, landing on a rock and issuing a call that determined the nature of creation. It was also a symbol of rebirth and was associated with Osiris. Some of the titles of the Bennu bird were He Who Came Into Being by Himself, and Lord of Jubilees and its name is related to the Egyptian verb wbn, meaning to rise in brilliance or to shine. The Pyramid Texts refer to the yellow wagtail as a symbol of Atum, new Kingdom artwork shows the Bennu as a grey heron with a long beak and a two-feathered crest, sometimes perched on a benben stone or in a willow tree. Because of its connection with Osiris, it wears the atef crown. A large species of heron, currently extinct, lived on the Arabian Peninsula in comparatively recent times, reflecting this, the species was described as the Bennu heron. Like Atum and Ra, the Bennu was probably worshipped in their center at Heliopolis. It also appears on funerary scarab amulets as a symbol of rebirth, the Greek historian Herodotus, writing about Egypt in the fifth century BC, wrote that the people at Heliopolis described the phoenix to him. They said it lived for 500 years before dying, resuscitating, building a funerary egg with myrrh for the paternal corpse and his description of the phoenix likens it to an eagle with red and gold plumage, reminiscent of the sun. The theme of the fire, pyre and ashes of the dying bird developed long after Herodotus. The name of the phoenix could be derived from Bennu, and its rebirth and connections with the sun resemble those of the Bennu bird, le regard dHérodote sur le phénix. In Coulon, Laurent, Giovannelli-Jouanna, Pascale, Kimmel-Clauzet, Flore, regards croisés sur le Livre II de l’Enquête d’Hérodote. Actes de la journée d’étude organisée à la Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée – Lyon, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée. Media related to Bennu at Wikimedia Commons

Bennu
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The Bennu-bird

10.
Aberdeen Bestiary
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The Aberdeen Bestiary is a 12th-century English illuminated manuscript bestiary that was first listed in 1542 in the inventory of the Old Royal Library at the Palace of Westminster. Information about its origins and patron are circumstantial and it probably comes from the 12th century and was owned by a wealthy ecclesiastical patron of the north or south province. The Aberdeen Bestiary is related to other bestiaries of the Middle Ages such as the Ashmole Bestiary, folio 1 recto, Creation of heaven and earth. Folio 1 verso, Creation of the waters and the firmament, folio 2 recto, Creation of the birds and fishes. Folio 2 verso, Creation of the animals, folio 3 recto, Creation of man. Folio 5 recto, Adam names the animals, david Badke, The Medieval Bestiary, Manuscript, Univ

11.
Halo (optical phenomenon)
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Halo is the name for a family of optical phenomena produced by light interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Halos can have many forms, ranging from colored or white rings to arcs, many of these are near the Sun or Moon, but others occur elsewhere or even in the opposite part of the sky. Among the best known halo types are the halo, light pillars and sun dogs. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals are responsible for the type of halo observed, light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split up into colors because of dispersion. The crystals behave like prisms and mirrors, refracting and reflecting light between their faces, sending shafts of light in particular directions, atmospheric phenomena such as halos were used as part of weather lore as an empirical means of weather forecasting before meteorology was developed. They often do mean that rain is going to fall within the next 24 hours as the clouds that cause them can signify an approaching frontal system. Other common optical phenomena involving water droplets rather than ice crystals include the glory, hexagonal plate- and column-shaped ice crystals cause the phenomenon. Plate crystals generally cause pillars only when the sun is within 6 degrees of the horizon, or below it, the crystals tend to orient themselves near-horizontally as they fall or float through the air, and the width and visibility of a sun pillar depend on crystal alignment. Light pillars can also form around the moon, and around street lights or other bright lights, pillars forming from ground-based light sources may appear much taller than those associated with the sun or moon. Since the observer is closer to the source, crystal orientation matters less in the formation of these pillars. Among the best-known halos is the 22° halo, often just called halo, the ice crystals that cause the 22° halo are oriented semi-randomly in the atmosphere, in contrast to the horizontal orientation required for some other halos such as sun dogs and light pillars. Other haloes can form at 46° to the sun, or at the horizon, or around the zenith, in the Anglo-Cornish dialect of English, a halo round the sun or the moon is called a cocks eye and is a token of bad weather. The term is related to the Breton word kog-heol which has the same meaning, in Nepal, the halo round the sun is called Indrasabha with a connotation of the assembly court of Lord Indra – the Hindu god of lightning, thunder and rain. The natural phenomena may be reproduced artificially by several means, firstly, by computer simulations, or secondly by experimental means. Regarding the latter, one may take a single crystal and rotate it around the appropriate axis/axes. A still further and more experimental approach is to find analogous refraction geometries. This approach employs the fact that in cases the average geometry of refraction through an ice crystal may be imitated / mimicked via the refraction through another geometrical object. In this way, the Circumzenithal arc, the Circumhorizontal arc, a particularly simple table-top experiment reproduces artificially the colorful circumzenithal and circumhorizontal arcs using a water glass only

12.
Helios
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Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. He is the son of the Titan Hyperion and the Titaness Theia, also known as Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn. In the Homeric hymn to Helios, Helios is said to drive a chariot drawn by steeds. Still later, the horses were given related names, Pyrois, Aeos, Aethon. As time passed, Helios was increasingly identified with the god of light, however, in spite of their syncretism, they were also often viewed as two distinct gods/titan. The equivalent of Helios in Roman mythology was Sol, specifically Sol Invictus, the Greek ἥλιος is the inherited word for the Sun, from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥, cognate with Latin sol, Sanskrit surya, Old English swegl, Old Norse sól, Welsh haul, etc. The female offspring of Helios were called Heliades, the Greek sun god had various bynames or epithets, which over time in some cases came to be considered separate deities associated with the Sun. Most notably, Helios is closely associated with, and sometimes identified with. Diodorus Siculus of Sicily reported that the Chaldeans called Cronus by the name Helios, or the sun, among these is Hyperion, Elektor, Phaëton the radiant, Hekatos. The best known story involving Helios is that of his son Phaethon, Helios was sometimes characterized with the epithet Panoptes. In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew land on Thrinacia, an island sacred to the sun god. There, the red cattle of the Sun were kept, You will now come to the Thrinacian island. There will be seven herds of cattle and seven flocks of sheep and they do not breed, nor do they become fewer in number, and they are tended by the goddesses Phaethusa and Lampetia, who are children of the sun-god Hyperion by Neaera. Their mother when she had them and had done suckling them sent them to the Thrinacian island. Though Odysseus warns his men, when supplies run short they impiously kill, the guardians of the island, Helios daughters, tell their father about this. Helios appeals to Zeus telling them to dispose of Odysseus men or he will take the Sun, Zeus destroys the ship with his lightning bolt, killing all the men except for Odysseus. In one Greek vase painting, Helios appears riding across the sea in the cup of the Delphic tripod which appears to be a solar reference. While Heracles traveled to Erytheia to retrieve the cattle of Geryon, he crossed the Libyan desert and was so frustrated at the heat that he shot an arrow at Helios, Heracles used this golden cup to reach Erytheia

13.
Inferno (Dante)
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Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieris 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso, the Inferno tells the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, Canto I The poem begins on the night of Maundy Thursday on March 241300 A. D. shortly before dawn of Good Friday. The narrator, Dante himself, is years old. The poet finds himself lost in a wood, astray from the straight way of salvation. He sets out to climb directly up a mountain. The three beasts, taken from the Jeremiah 5,6, are thought to symbolize the three kinds of sin that bring the unrepentant soul into one of the three divisions of Hell. According to John Ciardi, these are incontinence, violence and bestiality, and fraud and malice, Dorothy L. Sayers assigns the leopard to incontinence and it is now dawn of Good Friday, April 8, with the sun rising in Aries. The beasts drive him back despairing into the darkness of error, however, Dante is rescued by a figure who announces that he was born sub Iulio and lived under Augustus, it is the shade of the Roman poet Virgil, author of the Aeneid, a Latin epic. Canto II On the evening of Good Friday, Dante is following Virgil but hesitates, Virgil explains how he has sent by Beatrice. Beatrice has been sent with prayers from the Virgin Mary and of Saint Lucia, rachel, symbolic of the contemplative life, also appears in the heavenly scene recounted by Virgil. The two of them begin their journey to the underworld. Dante and his guide hear the screams of the Uncommitted. These are the souls of people who in life took no sides, the opportunists who were for neither good nor evil, among these Dante recognizes a figure implied to be Pope Celestine V, whose cowardice served as the door through which so much evil entered the Church. Mixed with them are outcasts who took no side in the Rebellion of Angels and these souls are forever unclassified, they are neither in Hell nor out of it, but reside on the shores of the Acheron. Naked and futile, they race around through the mist in eternal pursuit of an elusive, wavering banner while relentlessly chased by swarms of wasps and hornets, who continually sting them. Loathsome maggots and worms at the sinners feet drink the putrid mixture of blood, pus and this symbolizes the sting of their guilty conscience and the repugnance of sin. This may also be seen as a reflection of the spiritual stagnation they lived in, after passing through the vestibule, Dante and Virgil reach the ferry that will take them across the river Acheron and to Hell proper

14.
Shroud
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Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. Traditionally, mound shrouds are made of cotton, wool or linen. Intermixture of two or more such fibres is forbidden, a proscription that ultimately derives from the Torah, Early shrouds incorporated a cloth, the sudarium, that covered the face, as depicted in traditional artistic representations of the entombed Jesus or His friend, Lazarus. The shrouded body is wrapped in a sheet, termed a sovev in Hebrew. Croesus-rich or dirt-poor, every Orthodox Jew is dressed to face the Almighty on the same terms, the Early Christian Church also strongly encouraged the use of winding-sheets, except for monarchs and bishops. The rich were wrapped in cerecloths, which are fine fabrics soaked or painted in wax to hold the fabric close to the flesh. An account of the opening of the coffin of Edward I says that the innermost covering seems to have been a fine linen cerecloth. Their use was general until at least the Renaissance - clothes were very expensive, in Europe in the Middle Ages, coarse linen shrouds were used to bury most poor without a coffin. In poetry shrouds have been described as of sable, and they were later embroidered in black, becoming more elaborate, Orthodox Christians still use a burial shroud, usually decorated with a cross and the Trisagion. The special shroud that is used during the Orthodox Holy Week services is called an Epitaphios, some Catholics also use the burial shroud particularly the Eastern Catholics and traditionalist Roman Catholics. Muslims as well use burial shrouds that are made of cotton or linen. The Burying in Woollen Acts 1666-80 in England were meant to support the production of woollen cloth

15.
Henry VIII (play)
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Henry VIII is a collaborative history play, written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, based on the life of King Henry VIII of England. An alternative title, All Is True, is recorded in contemporary documents, stylistic evidence indicates that individual scenes were written by either Shakespeare or his collaborator and successor, John Fletcher. It is also characteristic of the late romances in its structure. It is noted for having more stage directions than any of Shakespeares other plays, during a performance of Henry VIII at the Globe Theatre in 1613, a cannon shot employed for special effects ignited the theatres thatched roof, burning the original Globe building to the ground. Act I opens with a conversation between the Dukes of Norfolk and Buckingham and Lord Abergavenny and their speeches express their mutual resentment over the ruthless power and overweening pride of Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey passes over the stage with his attendants, and expresses his own hostility toward Buckingham, later Buckingham is arrested because he exposed King Henry and his several male lovers on treason charges—Wolseys doing. The plays second scene introduces King Henry VIII, and shows his reliance on Wolsey as his favourite, Katherine also challenges the arrest of Buckingham, but Wolsey defends the arrest by producing the Dukes Surveyor, the primary accuser. After hearing the Surveyor, the King orders Buckinghams trial to occur, at a banquet thrown by Wolsey, the King and his attendants enter in disguise as masquers. The King dances with Anne Boleyn, two anonymous Gentlemen open Act II, one giving the other an account of Buckinghams treason trial. Buckingham himself enters in custody after his conviction, and makes his farewells to his followers, after his exit, the two Gentlemen talk about court gossip, especially Wolseys hostility toward Katherine. The next scene shows Wolsey beginning to move against the Queen, Wolsey introduces Cardinal Campeius and Gardiner to the King, Campeius has come to serve as a judge in the trial Wolsey is arranging for Katherine. Anne Boleyn is shown conversing with the Old Lady who is her attendant, Anne expresses her sympathy at the Queens troubles, but then the Lord Chamberlain enters to inform her that the King has made her Marchioness of Pembroke. Once the Lord Chamberlain leaves, the Old Lady jokes about Annes sudden advancement in the Kings favour, a lavishly-staged trial scene portrays Katherines hearing before the King and his courtiers. Katherine reproaches Wolsey for his machinations against her, and refuses to stay for the proceedings, but the King defends Wolsey, and states that it was his own doubts about the legitimacy of their marriage that led to the trial. Campeius protests that the hearing cannot continue in the Queens absence, Wolsey and Campeius confront Katherine among her ladies-in-waiting, Katherine makes an emotional protest about her treatment. Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, and the Lord Chamberlain are shown plotting against Wolsey, the King shows Wolsey his displeasure, and Wolsey for the first time realises that he has lost Henrys favour. The noblemen mock Wolsey, and the Cardinal sends his follower Cromwell away so that Cromwell will not be brought down in Wolseys fall from grace. The two Gentlemen return to observe and comment upon the procession for Anne Boleyns coronation as Queen

Henry VIII (play)
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The first page of The Famous History of the Life of King Henry VIII, printed in the Second Folio of 1632
Henry VIII (play)
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Image of Queen Katherine, from The Graphic Gallery of Shakespeare's Heroines
Henry VIII (play)
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The first edition of Raphael Holinshed 's Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande, printed in 1577.
Henry VIII (play)
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Dame Ellen Terry as Catherine of Aragon

16.
William Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589

17.
John Fletcher (playwright)
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John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Though his reputation has been far eclipsed since, Fletcher remains an important transitional figure between the Elizabethan popular tradition and the drama of the Restoration. Fletcher was born in December 1579 in Rye, Sussex, and he cried out at her death, So perish all the Queens enemies. Richard Fletcher died shortly after falling out of favour with the queen and he appears to have been partly rehabilitated before his death in 1596, however, he died substantially in debt. The upbringing of John Fletcher and his seven siblings was entrusted to his paternal uncle Giles Fletcher and his uncles connections ceased to be a benefit, and may even have become a liability, after the rebellion of the Earl of Essex, who had been his patron. Fletcher appears to have entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University in 1591 and it is not certain that he took a degree, but evidence suggests that he was preparing for a career in the church. Little is known about his time at college, but he followed the same path previously trodden by the University wits before him. In 1606, he began to appear as a playwright for the Children of the Queens Revels, at the beginning of his career, his most important association was with Francis Beaumont. The two wrote together for close to a decade, first for the children and then for the Kings Men, according to an anecdote transmitted or invented by John Aubrey, they also lived together, sharing clothes and having one wench in the house between them. This domestic arrangement, if it existed, was ended by Beaumonts marriage in 1613, and their partnership ended after Beaumont fell ill, probably of a stroke. By this time, Fletcher had moved into an association with the Kings Men. He collaborated with Shakespeare on Henry VIII, The Two Noble Kinsmen, and the lost Cardenio, a play he wrote singly around this time, The Womans Prize or the Tamer Tamed, is a sequel to The Taming of the Shrew. In 1616, after Shakespeares death, Fletcher appears to have entered into an arrangement with the Kings Men similar to Shakespeares. Fletcher wrote only for that company between the death of Shakespeare and his own death nine years later and he never lost his habit of collaboration, working with Nathan Field and later with Philip Massinger, who succeeded him as house playwright for the Kings Men. His popularity continued unabated throughout his life, during the winter of 1621 and he died in 1625, apparently of the plague. He seems to have buried in what is now Southwark Cathedral, although the precise location is not known. His mastery is most notable in two types, tragicomedy and comedy of manners. In the preface to the edition of his play, Fletcher explained the failure as due to his audiences faulty expectations

18.
Elizabeth I of England
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Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two and a half years after Elizabeths birth. Annes marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, edwards will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Marys reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels, in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, one of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England and it was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir to continue the Tudor line. She never did, despite numerous courtships, as she grew older, Elizabeth became famous for her virginity. A cult grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, in government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. One of her mottoes was video et taceo, in religion, she was relatively tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, by the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. Englands defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history, Elizabeths reign is known as the Elizabethan era. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Such was the case with Elizabeths rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, after the short reigns of Elizabeths half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity. Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace and was named after both her grandmothers, Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Howard and she was the second child of Henry VIII of England born in wedlock to survive infancy. Her mother was Henrys second wife, Anne Boleyn, at birth, Elizabeth was the heir presumptive to the throne of England. She was baptised on 10 September, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the Marquess of Exeter, the Duchess of Norfolk, Elizabeth was two years and eight months old when her mother was beheaded on 19 May 1536, four months after Catherine of Aragons death from natural causes. Elizabeth was declared illegitimate and deprived of her place in the royal succession, eleven days after Anne Boleyns execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after the birth of their son, Prince Edward, in 1537

Elizabeth I of England
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The "Darnley Portrait" of Elizabeth I (c. 1575)
Elizabeth I of England
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The Lady Elizabeth in about 1546, by an unknown artist
Elizabeth I of England
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The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul, a translation from the French, by Elizabeth, presented to Catherine Parr in 1544. The embroidered binding with the monogram KP for "Katherine Parr" is believed to have been worked by Elizabeth.
Elizabeth I of England
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Mary I, by Anthonis Mor, 1554

19.
Garuda
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The Garuda is a large legendary bird, bird-like creature, or humanoid bird that appears in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology. Garuda is the mount of the Lord Vishnu, Garuda is the Hindu name for the constellation Aquila. The brahminy kite and phoenix are considered to be the contemporary representations of Garuda, Indonesia adopts a more stylistic approach to the Garudas depiction as its national symbol, where it depicts a Javanese eagle. In Hinduism, Garuda is a Hindu divinity, usually the mount of the Lord Vishnu, Garuda is depicted as having the golden body of a strong man with a white face, red wings, and an eagles beak and with a crown on his head. This ancient deity was said to be massive, large enough to block out the sun, Garuda is known as the eternal sworn enemy of the Nāga serpent race and known for feeding exclusively on snakes, such behavior may have referred to the actual short-toed eagle of India. The image of Garuda is often used as the charm or amulet to protect the bearer from attack and its poison, since the king of birds is an implacable enemy. Garudi Vidya is the mantra against snake poison to remove all kinds of evil and his stature in Hindu religion can be gauged by the fact that a dependent Upanishad, the Garudopanishad, and a Purana, the Garuda Purana, is devoted to him. Various names have been attributed to Garuda - Chirada, Gaganeshvara, Kamayusha, Kashyapi, Khageshvara, Nagantaka, Sitanana, Sudhahara, Suparna, Tarkshya, Vainateya, Vishnuratha and others. The Vedas provide the earliest reference of Garuda, though by the name of Śyena, the Puranas, which came into existence much later, mention Garuda as doing the same thing, which indicates that Śyena and Garuda are the same. One of the faces of Śrī Pañcamukha Hanuman is Mahavira Garuda and this face points towards the west. Worship of Garuda is believed to remove the effects of poisons from ones body, in Tamil Vaishnavism Garuda and Hanuman are known as Periya Thiruvadi and Siriya Thiruvadi respectively. Garuda wears the serpent Adisesha on his left wrist and the serpent Gulika on his right wrist, the serpent Vasuki forms his sacred thread. The cobra Takshaka forms his belt on his hip, the snake Karkotaka is worn as his necklace. The snakes Padma and Mahapadma are his ear rings, the snake Shankachuda adorns his divine hair. He is flanked by his two wives ‘Rudra’ and ‘Sukeerthi’ or and these are all invoked in Vedanta Desikas Garuda Panchashath and Garuda Dandaka compositions. Garuda flanked with his consorts Rudra and Sukirthi can be worshipped in an ancient Soumya Keshava temple in Bindiganavile in Karnataka state of India. Garuda Vyuha is worshiped in Tantra for Abhichara and to protect against Abhichara, however, the interesting thing is that Garuda is the Sankarshna form of the lord who during creation primarily possesses the knowledge aspect of the lord. The important point is that Garuda represents the five vayus within us, prana, apana, vyana, udana, samana through his five forms Satya, Suparna, Garuda, Tarkshya, Vihageshwara

20.
Gandaberunda
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The Gandaberunda or Berunda, is a two-headed mythological bird on the outskirts of the main Hindu mythology, believed to possess immense magical strength. It is used as the emblem of the Karnataka state government because it is a symbol of strength. It is believed to be capable of fighting the forces of destruction and it appears as an intricately carved sculpture motif in Hindu temples. The bird is depicted as clutching elephants in its talons and beaks. In a coin found in Madurai, it is holding a snake in its beak. All 2-dimensional depictions show an image similar to the Double-headed eagle while other images show the long tail feathers resembling a peacock. In the Chennakeshava temple of Belur, Karnataka, Gandaberunda is carved as a scene of chain of destruction. Initially, a deer is prey to a python, followed by being lifted by an elephant and a lion attacking the elephant. The last scene depicted is of Gandaberunda destroying Sharabha, the Gandaberunda was a physical form displayed by Narasimha, Man-Lion incarnation of Vishnu. After Narasimha had slain the demon Hiranyakashipu, he clung on to his dreadful form, demigods were even more afraid of the supreme lord than they were of the demon. Shiva -- Vishnus best friend, incarnated as Veerabhadra Rudra and kala bhairava -- and Narasimha incarnated himself as Sharabha and that became the terror of the lion. However, he then exploded and got killed in the process, a sculpture depicting a Gandaberunda is found on the roof of the Rameshwara temple in the temple town of Keladi in Shimoga District, the capital of the Keladi Nayakas. The Gandaberunda was also used by the Wodeyar dynasty of Mysore as the Royal emblem, the Karnataka Government adopted this symbol as the state symbol and can be found on bus terminals and tickets issued by Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation. Coins from the rule of Achyuta Deva Raya are thought to be the first to use the Gandaberunda on currency, the crest of the Indian navy ship INS Mysore features a Gandaberunda. Gandaberunda is the emblem of Karnataka state government. It was the royal insignia of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom. The Deccan Herald wrote, When Dasara completed four hundred years this year, another major feature associated with Mysore kingdom, the City Herald tried to dig into the roots of the Gandaberunda and stumbled upon some exciting stories associated with it. The Gandaberunda is a two headed bird. Historian Professor P V Nanjaraje Urs -- who has widely researched Mysore State -- tells that the Gandaberunda was first used as a sign on coins in Vijayanagar mints, since then, the tradition passed on to generations

21.
Firebird (Slavic folklore)
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In Slavic folklore, the Firebird is a magical glowing bird from a faraway land, which is both a blessing and a bringer of doom to its captor. Some believe it can see the future, the Firebird is described as a large bird with majestic plumage that glows brightly emitting red, orange, and yellow light, like a bonfire that is just past the turbulent flame. The feathers do not cease glowing if removed, and one feather can light a room if not concealed. In later iconography, the form of the Firebird is usually that of a smallish fire-colored peacock, complete with a crest on its head and it is beautiful but dangerous showing no sign of friendliness. The story of the Firebird inspired many works, including The Little Humpback Horse by Pyotr Yershov. A typical role of the Firebird in fairy tales is as an object of a difficult quest, the Firebird is a marvel, highly coveted, but the hero, initially charmed by the wonder of the feather, eventually blames it for his troubles. There are many versions of the Firebird story as it was told orally in the beginning. One version is the tale of Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf, suzanne Massie retells another story of the Firebird legend. A modest and gentle orphan girl named Maryushka lives in a small village, people would come from all over to buy her embroidery, and many merchants asked her to come away and work for them. She told them all that she would sell to any who found her work beautiful, one day the evil sorcerer Kaschei the Immortal heard of Maryushka’s beautiful needlework and transformed himself into a beautiful young man and visited her. Upon seeing her ability he became enraged that a mortal could produce finer work than he himself possessed. He tried to tempt her by offering to make her Queen if she would embroider for him alone, but she refused saying she never wanted to leave her village. Because of this last insult to his ego he turned Maryushka into a Firebird, and himself into a great black Falcon, picked her up in his talons, to leave a memory of herself with her village forever she shed her feathers onto the land below. As the last feather fell Maryushka died in the falcon’s talons, the glowing rainbow feathers were magic and remain undimmed, but show their colors only to those who love beauty and seek to make beauty for others. Irina Zheleytova translates another version, The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa, in this version a king’s archer is on a hunt and runs across a firebird’s feather. The archer’s horse warns the archer not to touch it, as bad things will happen, the archer ignores the advice and takes it to bring back to the king so he will be praised and rewarded. When the king is presented with the feather he demands the entire firebird or the death of the archer, the archer weeps to his horse, who instructs him to put corn on the fields in order to capture the firebird. The firebird comes down to eat, allowing the archer to capture the bird, when the king is presented with the firebird he demands that the archer fetch the Princess Vassilissa so the king may marry her, otherwise, the archer will be killed

22.
Persian mythology
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Persian mythology are traditional tales and stories of ancient origin, all involving extraordinary or supernatural beings. Myths play a part in Iranian culture and our understanding of them is increased when we consider them within the context of Iranian history. The geography of this region, with its mountain ranges. This pottery, light grey to black in colour, appeared around 1400 BC and it is called Early Grey Ware or Iron I, the latter name indicating the beginning of the Iron Age in this area. The central collection of Persian mythology is the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, the characters of Persian mythology almost always fall into one of two camps. They are either good, or they are evil, the most famous legendary character in the Persian epics and mythology is Rostam. On the other side of the fence is Zahhak, a symbol of despotism who was, finally, Zahhak was guarded by two vipers which grew out from both of his shoulders. No matter how many times they were beheaded, new heads grew on them to guard him. The snake, like in other mythologies, was a symbol of evil, but many other animals and birds appear in Iranian mythology, and, especially. Most famous of these is Simorgh, a beautiful and powerful bird, and Homa. Published by Echo of Iran, Tehran 1965, Iranian Mythology by Albert J. Carnoy Indo-Iranian Mythology Iran Almanac 2006

23.
Simurgh
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Simurgh, also spelled simorgh, simorg, simurg, simoorg, simorq or simourv, is a benevolent, mythical bird in Iranian mythology and literature. It is sometimes equated with other birds such as a griffin or phoenix. The New Persian word sīmurğ derives from Middle Persian sēnmurw, also attested in Pazend texts as sīna-mrū, saēna is also a personal name, which is root of the name. The word was borrowed into Armenian as siramarg. The simurgh is depicted in Iranian art as a creature in the shape of a bird. It appears as a peacock with the head of a dog, the simurgh is inherently benevolent and unambiguously female. Being part mammal, she suckles her young and it has an enmity towards snakes, and its natural habitat is a place with plenty of water. Its feathers are said to be the colour of copper, and though it was described as being a dog-bird. Si-, the first element in the name, has been connected in folk etymology to Modern Persian si, other suggested etymologies include Pahlavi sin murgh and Avestan saeno merego. Iranian legends consider the bird so old that it had seen the destruction of the three times over. The simurgh learned so much by living so long that it is thought to possess the knowledge of all the ages, in one legend, the simurgh was said to live 1,700 years before plunging itself into flames. The simurgh was considered to purify the land and waters and hence bestow fertility, the creature represented the union between the Earth and the sky, serving as mediator and messenger between the two. The simurgh roosted in Gaokerena, the Hōm Tree of Life, the plant is potent medicine and is called all-healing, and the seeds of all plants are deposited on it. When the simurgh took flight, the leaves of the tree of life shook, the relationship between the simurgh and Hōm is extremely close. Like the simurgh, Hōm is represented as a bird, a messenger, Hōm - appointed as the first priest - is the essence of divinity, a property it shares with the simurgh. The Hōm is in addition the vehicle of farr, farrah in turn represents the divine mandate that was the foundation of a kings authority. It appears as a bird resting on the head or shoulder of would-be kings and clerics, for the commoner, Bahram wraps fortune/glory around the house of the worshipper, for wealth in cattle, like the great bird Saena, and as the watery clouds cover the great mountains. Like the simurgh, farrah is also associated with the waters of Vourukasha, in Yašt 12.17 Simorghs tree stands in the middle of the sea Vourukaša, it has good and potent medicine and is called all-healing, and the seeds of all plants are deposited on it

24.
Georgia (country)
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Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east

Georgia (country)
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It is said that Georgians were so named because they revered Saint George.
Georgia (country)
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Flag
Georgia (country)
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Ancient Georgian states of Colchis and Iberia, 500-400 BC
Georgia (country)
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Queen Tamar of Georgia presided over the "Golden Age" of the medieval Georgian monarchy. Her position as the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right was emphasized by the title "Mepe mepeta" ("King of Kings").

25.
Turkish mythology
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Turkic mythology embraces Tengriist and Shamanist traditions as well as all cultural and social subjects being a nomad folk. Later, especially after Turkic migration some of the myths were decorated with Islamic symbols and it has many common points with Mongol mythology. Turkic mythology was influenced by other local mythologies, for example, in Tatar mythology elements of Finnic and Indo-European myth co-exist. Subjects from Tatar mythology include Äbädä, Alara, Şüräle, Şekä, Pitsen, Tulpar, and Zilant. Besides Buddhism, Turkic mythology was influenced by Manichaeism, irk Bitig, a 10th-century manuscript found in Dunhuang is one of the most important sources for Turkic mythology and religion. This book is written in Old Turkic alphabet like the Orkhon inscriptions, Kök Tengri is the first of primordial deities in the religion of the early Turkic people. He was known as yüce or yaratıcı tengri after the Turks started to migrate and leave middle Asia, the words Tengri and Sky were synonyms. It is unknown how Tengri looks and he rules the fates of entire people and acts freely. But he is fair as he awards and punishes, the well-being of people depends on his will. Tengri worship is first attested in the Old Turkic Orkhon inscriptions of the early 8th century, Umay is the goddess of fertility and virginity. Umay resembles earth-mother goddesses found in other world religions and is the daughter of Tengri. Öd Tengri Is the god of time being not well-known, as it states in the stones, Öd tengri is the ruler of time. Boz Tengri Like Öd Tengri, he is not known much and he is seen as the god of the grounds and steppes and is a son of Kök Tengri. Kayra is the Spirit of God, primordial god of highest sky, upper air, space, atmosphere, light, life and son of Kök Tengri. Ülgen is the son of Kayra and Umay is the god of goodness, the Aruğ denotes to good spirits in Turkic and Altaic mythology. They are under the order of Ülgen and doing things on earth. Erlik is the god of death and the underworld, also a god of the manly seem, since his name Erklik is also used for male. Later Erlik was used depriving him of this rather anti-hero status, the titel khan in his name is because of his ruler position

Turkish mythology
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The 10th-century Irk Bitig or "Book of Divination" of Dunhuang is an important source for early Turkic mythology

26.
Phoenix in popular culture
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The phoenix has proved an enduring allegorical symbol, symbolizing rebirth, renewal or uniqueness and often appears in modern popular culture. He also wrote the poem The Phoenix and the Turtle, in certain works of Renaissance literature, the phoenix is said to have been eaten as the rarest of dishes – for only one was alive at any one time. 204-5 writes, could we get the phœnix, though nature lost her kind, another mention of the phoenix as a culinary delicacy occurs in John Websters The White Devil. Edith Nesbits famous childrens novel, The Phoenix and the Carpet is based on this legendary creature, in the Vermilion Bird, a mystical Phoenix symbol represents of Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations D. H. Lawrence frequently used the phoenix as a symbol for rebirth in life. The Cambridge Edition of the Letters and Works of D. H. Lawrence carries the motif on its covers, in Robert E. Edward Ormondroyds 1957 childrens novel David and the Phoenix features the phoenix as a main character. In C. S. Lewis book, The Magicians Nephew and it also appears later in The Last Battle. The phoenix was also famed for being a symbol of the rise and fall of society, Montag, sylvia Plath also alludes to the phoenix in the end of her famous poem Lady Lazarus. J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter novels feature a phoenix, in Harry Potters world, phoenixes can carry enormous weights, and their song is said to strike fear into the hearts of the impure and courage into those who are pure of heart. The tears of the phoenix can heal severe poisoning, and other illnesses and injuries, the presence of a phoenix reinforces the underlying theme of overcoming death by embracing life found throughout the series, and many of the traits of the phoenix follow closely with the myth. In Neil Gaimans short story Sunbird, a party of Epicureans finally answer the question of what happens when a Phoenix is roasted and eaten, you burst into flames, and the years burn off you. This can kill those who are unexperienced, but those who have swallowed fire, in Terry Pratchetts novel Carpe Jugulum, the search for the phoenix forms an important side plot. In Phoenix Rising, by Karen Hesse, Trent mentions the Phoenix several times while hes lying in bed, in Steven Brusts books set in the world of Dragaera, the House of the Phoenix is linked biologically to the phoenix and metaphorically to the theme of rebirth. Phoenix and The Phoenix Guards are the titles of two of Brusts books, in the Vlad Taltos series and the Khaavren Romances, respectively, catherine Asaros near future thriller The Phoenix Code features an AI version of the phoenix mythology. In Mozarts opera Così fan tutte, a woman is said to be as hard to find as the mythological Phoenix. The second track of Pyramazes Immortal album is named Year Of The Phoenix, Phoenix was the intended title of The Byrdss 1970 album. Transsylvania Phoenix is the name of a Romanian rock band with folkloric lyrics, the British band Queens logo has a picture of a Phoenix on the top part. The logo was designed by their singer, Freddie Mercury, Phoenix is the name of a French indie pop–rock band. La Fenice is a famous Opera house in Venice, Italy which burned down twice in 1836 and in 1996 only to be rebuilt, likening it more closely to its mythical namesake

Phoenix in popular culture
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The Phoenix represented in the 60 years of peace coin.
Phoenix in popular culture
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The Phoenix and the silhouette of the soldier bearing a bayonet rifle was the emblem of the Junta. On the header the word Greece and on the footer the words 21 April can be seen in Greek.
Phoenix in popular culture
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The Phantom, Phoenix takes a human for by the name Yugo

27.
Warsaw
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Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland, roughly 260 kilometres from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population is estimated at 1.750 million residents within a metropolitan area of 3.101 million residents. The city limits cover 516.9 square kilometres, while the area covers 6,100.43 square kilometres. In 2012 the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Warsaw as the 32nd most liveable city in the world and it was also ranked as one of the most liveable cities in Central Europe. Today Warsaw is considered an Alpha– global city, an international tourist destination. Warsaws economy, by a variety of industries, is characterised by FMCG manufacturing, metal processing, steel and electronic manufacturing. The city is a significant centre of research and development, BPO, ITO, the Warsaw Stock Exchange is one of the largest and most important in Central and Eastern Europe. Frontex, the European Union agency for external security, has its headquarters in Warsaw. It has been said that Warsaw, together with Frankfurt, London, Paris, the city is positioning itself as Eastern Europe’s chic cultural capital with thriving art and club scenes and serious restaurants. The first historical reference to Warsaw dates back to the year 1313, after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, Warsaw was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars, the city became the capital of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. In accordance with the decisions of the Congress of Vienna, the Russian Empire annexed Warsaw in 1815, only in 1918 did it regain independence from the foreign rule and emerge as a new capital of the independent Republic of Poland. Warsaw gained the title of the Phoenix City because it has survived wars, conflicts. Most notably, the city required painstaking rebuilding after the damage it suffered in World War II. On 9 November 1940, the city was awarded Polands highest military decoration for heroism, the historic city-centre of Warsaw with its picturesque Old Town in 1980 was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Buildings represent examples of nearly every European architectural style and historical period, folk etymology attributes the city name to a fisherman, Wars, and his wife, Sawa. According to legend, Sawa was a living in the Vistula River with whom Wars fell in love

Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw

28.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church

29.
New International Encyclopedia
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The New International Encyclopedia was an American encyclopedia first published in 1902 by Dodd, Mead and Company. It descended from the International Cyclopaedia and was updated in 1906,1914 and 1926, the New International Encyclopedia was the successor of the International Cyclopaedia. Initially, the International Cyclopaedia was largely a reprint of Aldens Library of Universal Knowledge, the local Cyclopaedia was much improved by editors Harry Thurston Peck and Selim Peabody. The title was changed to New International Encyclopedia in 1902, with editors Harry Thurston Peck, Daniel Coit Gilman, in 1906 the New International Encyclopedia was expanded from 17 volumes to 20. The 2nd edition appeared in 1914 in 24 volumes, set up from new type and it was very strong in biography. The 1926 material was printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by The University Press, boston Bookbinding Company of Cambridge produced the covers. Thirteen books enclosing twenty-three volumes comprise the encyclopedia, which includes a supplement after Volume 23, each book contains about 1600 pages. A great deal of material is recorded in the New International Encyclopedia. An early description of Adolf Hitler and his activities from 1920 to 1924 is in the supplement to the 1926 edition, many of the names used to describe the scientific identities of plants and animals are now obsolete. Numerous colorful maps which display the nations, states, colonies, the maps are valuable for their depictions of national and colonial borders in Europe, Asia, and Africa at the time of World War I. Drawings, illustrations, and photographs are plentiful, more than 500 men, and some women, submitted and composed the information contained in the New International Encyclopedia. Editors of the First Edition Daniel Coit Gilman, LL. D, President of Johns Hopkins University, President of Carnegie Institution. Frank Moore Colby, M. A. formerly Professor in New York University, editors of the Second Edition Frank Moore Colby, M. A. Talcott Williams, LL. D. Director of the School of Journalism, Columbia University, media related to New International Encyclopedia at Wikimedia Commons 1914 second ed

New International Encyclopedia
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Marsupials

30.
Charge (heraldry)
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In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon. This may be a design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant. In French blazon, the ordinaries are called pièces while other charges are called meubles, while thousands of objects found in nature, mythology or technology have appeared in armory, there are several charges which have contributed to the distinctive flavour of heraldic design. Only these and a few other notable charges are discussed in this article, some heraldic writers distinguish, albeit arbitrarily, between honourable ordinaries and sub-ordinaries. While some authors hold that only nine charges are honourable ordinaries, the remainder are often termed sub-ordinaries, and narrower or smaller versions of the ordinaries are called diminutives. Apparently ceding the point for the moment, Fox-Davies lists the generally agreed-upon honourable ordinaries as the bend, fess, pale, pile, chevron, cross, saltire and chief. Boutell lists the chief, pale, bend, bend sinister, fess, bar, cross, saltire and cheveron as the honourable ordinaries. Thus, the chief, bend, pale, fess, chevron, cross and saltire appear to be the undisputed ordinaries, while authors disagree over the status of the pile, bar, inescutcheon, bordure and others. Several different figures are recognised as honourable ordinaries, each normally occupying about one-fifth to one-third of the field, the chief is the upper portion of the field. The bend runs from the left to the lower right, as \. The bend sinister runs from the right to the lower left. The pale, a stripe in the centre of the field. The fess is a horizontal stripe across the centre of the field. The chevron is a construction shaped like an inverted letter V, the cross is a geometric construction of two perpendicular lines or bands. It has hundreds of variants, most of which are common charges rather than ordinaries, the saltire is a diagonal cross, often called Saint Andrews cross. Most of the ordinaries have corresponding diminutives, narrower versions, most often mentioned when two or more appear in parallel, bendlets, pallets, bars, chevronels, in addition to those mentioned in the above section, other ordinaries exist. Some of these are variously called honourable ordinaries by different authors, the pall or pairle is shaped like the letter Y. The pile is a wedge issuing from the top of the field and its length and width vary widely

Charge (heraldry)

31.
Bear in heraldry
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The bear as heraldic charge is not as widely used as the lion, boar or other beasts. It occurs mostly in canting arms, in England in the coats of arms of Barnard, Baring, Barnes, Bearsley. In English heraldry, a bears head usually muzzled, is the commonly used charge than the whole beast. Also canting, but associated with a built on a false etymology of the citys name, is the bear in the coat of arms of Berne. Similar to the coat of arms of Berne is the bear in the coat of arms of Berlin is used cantingly, the bear appears in representations of the Berlin coats of arms in the early modern period, used alongside the Prussian and Brandenburg eagles until the early 20th century. The bear is also used in arms representing Saint Gall, based on a legend of the saint involving a bear and this is the origin of the bear in the coat of arms in the Abbey of Saint Gall and of Appenzell. The saddled bear of Saint Corbinians legend is the symbol of Freising, Bavaria. Pope Benedict XVI, former archbishop of Munich, also applied it in his Papal Arms, a demi bear appears in the crest of Lawson in Canada. A grizzly bear, with wings, appears as a supporter in the bearings of Norris also in Canada, Canada has armigers with polar bears in their bearings. Chimerical half-bear, half-ravens appear as supporters of the Canadian Heraldic Authority, civic heraldry in Warwickshire abounds in bears. A bear is also used, cantingly, in the arms of the Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council, Bear in mythology Russian Bear Buddy bears

32.
Boars in heraldry
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The wild boar and boars head are common charges in heraldry. The boar was used as an emblem in some instances during antiquity, during the Roman Empire, at least three legions are known to have had a boar as their emblems - Legio I Italica, Legio X Fretensis and Legio XX Valeria Victrix. The Knocknagael Boar Stone is a well-known Pictish stone with a depiction of a boar emblem dating to ca. the 7th century. In this context, the name of Orkney is interpreted as being derived from orc-, the Celtic for pig, presumably from a Pictish tribe which had the boar or wild pig as their emblem. With the development of heraldry in the later Middle Ages, the boar makes an appearance as the White Boar, personal device of Richard III of England, used for large numbers of his livery badges. In the 15th century, a coat of arms of Tribalia, depicting a boar with an arrow pierced through the head. The motif had, in 1415, been used as the Coat of Arms of the Serbian Despotate and is recalled in one of Stefan Lazarevićs personal Seals, pavao Ritter Vitezović also depicts Triballia with the same motif in 1701 and Hristofor Zhefarovich again in 1741. With the beginning of the First Serbian Uprising, the Parliament adopted the Serbian Coat of Arms in 1805, the Buzic noble family of Bohemia used a boars head as heraldic device from the 14th century, later combined with a hare. In early modern heraldry, use of a boars head became a popular device, siebmachers Wappenbuch shows a boar in the coat of arms of the Schweinichen noble family. In addition, the Sullivan-Mor coat of arms bears a boar, the ODeorain clan, being an offshoot of the Sullivans, has a boar upon its crest, as well. The Rogan coat of arms features a boar crossing a hilltop, the Healy clan, has three boars heads. The Purcell clans coat of arms features four black boars heads, the McCann coat of arms features a boar as well. The Crowley coat of arms features a blue boar surrounded by three red crosses, in Scotland, a boars head is the crest of Clan Campbell and appears in both the coat of arms and crest of Clan Chisholm. Three boars heads appear in the coats of arms of the related clans Swinton, Gordon, Nesbitt, three boats heads are also used by the unrelated Bannerman clan. The Keating clan uses a boar going through a holly bush to symbolize toughness and courage. In Spain, the coats of arms of the noble families Garmendia, Urraga, Urrutia, boars, wolves and bears are common charges in Basque armory, especially from Guipuzcoa. Boar charges are often used in canting. The German towns of Eberbach and Ebersbach an der Fils, both in Baden-Württemberg, and Ebersbach, Saxony use civic arms that demonstrates this, each depicts a boar - Eber in German. In various armorials, the Serbian coat of arms has featured the head of a wild boar

33.
Deer
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Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the deer and the chital, and the Capreolinae, including the elk, reindeer, the Western roe deer. Female reindeer, and male deer of all species, grow, in this they differ from permanently horned antelope, which are in the same order, Artiodactyla. The musk deer of Asia and water chevrotain of tropical African and Asian forests are not usually regarded as true deer and form their own families, Moschidae and Tragulidae, respectively. Deer appear in art from Palaeolithic cave paintings onwards, and they have played a role in mythology, religion and their economic importance includes the use of their meat as venison, their skins as soft, strong buckskin, and their antlers as handles for knives. Deer hunting has been a sport since at least the Middle Ages. Deer live in a variety of biomes, ranging from tundra to the tropical rainforest, while often associated with forests, many deer are ecotone species that live in transitional areas between forests and thickets and prairie and savanna. The majority of deer species inhabit temperate mixed deciduous forest, mountain mixed coniferous forest, tropical seasonal/dry forest. Clearing open areas within forests to some extent may actually benefit deer populations by exposing the understory and allowing the types of grasses, weeds, additionally, access to adjacent croplands may also benefit deer. However, adequate forest or brush cover must still be provided for populations to grow, however, fallow deer have been introduced to South Africa. There are also species of deer that are highly specialized, and live almost exclusively in mountains, grasslands, swamps. Some deer have a distribution in both North America and Eurasia. Examples include the caribou that live in Arctic tundra and taiga and moose that inhabit taiga, huemul deer of South Americas Andes fill the ecological niches of the ibex and wild goat, with the fawns behaving more like goat kids. Mountain slope habitats vary from moist coniferous/mixed forested habitats to dry forests with alpine meadows higher up. The foothills and river valleys between the mountain provide a mosaic of cropland and deciduous parklands. The rare woodland caribou have the most restricted range living at altitudes in the subalpine meadows. Elk and mule deer both migrate between the alpine meadows and lower coniferous forests and tend to be most common in this region, elk also inhabit river valley bottomlands, which they share with White-tailed deer. They also live in the aspen parklands north of Calgary and Edmonton, the adjacent Great Plains grassland habitats are left to herds of elk, American bison, and pronghorn antelope

34.
Leopard (heraldry)
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The Oxford Guide to Heraldry makes little mention of leopards but glosses leopard as a term used in medieval heraldry for lion passant guardant. Now used for the natural beast, another name for this beast is the ounce. The typical heraldic leopard differs from the leopard in that it has no spots and often has a mane. In the Middle Ages, leopards were thought to be a crossbreed between a lion and a pard, a leopards face is frequently shown Jessant-de-lys, as in the 13th century arms of Cantilupe. Coat of arms of Benin Arms of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Coat of arms of Gabon Coat of arms of Malawi Coat of arms of Somalia Lion

35.
Lion (heraldry)
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The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises bravery, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness, Lion refers also to a Judeo Christian symbolism. The Lion of Judah stands in the coat of arms of the city of Jerusalem, similar looking lion can be found e. g. In the coat of arms of the Republic of Finland, symmetrically paired animals in particular find continuation from Migration Period art via Insular art to Romanesque art and heraldry. The animals of the predecessors of heraldic designs are likely to have been used as clan symbols. Adopted in Germanic tradition around the 5th century, they were re-interpreted in a Christian context in the kingdoms of Gaul. It was a predecessor of the medieval bestiaries, the lion as a heraldic charge is present from the very earliest development of heraldry in the 12th century. One of the earliest known examples of armory as it came to be practiced can be seen on the tomb of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. An enamel, probably commissioned by Geoffreys widow between 1155 and 1160, depicts him carrying a shield decorated six golden lions rampant. A chronicle dated to c.1175 states that Geoffrey was given a shield of this description when he was knighted by his father-in-law, Henry I, in 1128. Since Henry was the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, it seems reasonable to suppose that the adoption of lions as an emblem by Henry or his sons might have been inspired by Geoffreys shield. Richard is also credited with having originated the English crest of a lion statant, unlike the eagle, which is comparatively rare in heraldry because it was reserved as an imperial symbol, the lion became a symbol of chivalry and was not restricted to royal coats of arms. The Zürich armorial has a number of coats of arms with lions, the lion in the coat of arms of Bohemia is depicted with two tails. According to Ménestrier, this is due to a jest made by Emperor Frederick, who granted Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia a coat of arms with a lion coué, that is, with its tail between its legs. Vladislaus men refused to follow this emblem, calling it an ape, so that Frederick agreed to improve the arms by giving the lion not just one but two erect tails. One distinction commonly made, although it may be of limited importance, is the distinction of lions in the positions as leopards. The following table summarizes the principal attitudes of heraldic lions, Other terms are used to describe the position in further detail. The lions head is seen in agreement with the overall position

36.
Doves as symbols
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Doves, usually white in color, are used in a variety of settings as symbols of love, peace or as messengers. Doves appear in the symbolism of Judaism, Christianity and Paganism, the goddesses Atargatis, Ishtar, Inanna, Astarte and Aphrodite are all depicted with doves. The legendary queen Semiramis was raised by doves, connecting her to the goddesses, in the Epic of Gilgamesh the dove was released to search for the end of the deluge. Rabbinic literature interpreted the olive leaf as the shoots of the Land of Israel or the doves preference for bitter food in Gods service. The Talmud compares the spirit of God to a dove that hovers over the face of the waters, in post-biblical Judaism, souls are envisioned as bird-like, a concept that may be derived from the Biblical notion that dead spirits chirp. The Guf, or Treasury of Souls is sometimes described as a columbarium and this connects it to a related legend, the Palace of the Birds Nest, the dwelling place of the Messiahs soul until his advent. The Vilna Gaon explicitly declares that a dove is a symbol of the human soul, the dove is also a symbol of the people Israel, an image frequently repeated in Midrash. Christians derived the symbol of the dove and olive branch from Greek thought, including its use of the symbol of the branch, and the story of Noah. In Christian Iconography, a dove also symbolizes the Holy Spirit, in reference to Matthew 3,16, the early Christians in Rome incorporated into their funerary art the image of a dove carrying an olive branch, often accompanied by the word Peace. It seems that they derived this image from the simile in the Gospels, combining it with the symbol of the olive branch, the dove and olive branch also appeared in Christian images of Noahs ark. The fourth century Vulgate translated the Hebrew alay zayit in Genesis 8,11 as Latin ramum olivae. By the fifth century, Augustine of Hippo wrote in On Christian Doctrine that, according to Ludwig Budde and Pierre Prigent, the dove referred to the descending of the Holy Spirit rather than the peace associated with Noah. After the Peace of Constantine, when persecution ceased, Noah appeared less frequently in Christian art, medieval illuminated manuscripts, such as the Holkham Bible, showed the dove returning to Noah with a branch. Wycliffes Bible, which translated the Vulgate into English in the 14th century, in the Middle Ages, some Jewish illuminated manuscripts also showed Noahs dove with an olive branch, for example, the Golden Haggadah. Doves are often associated with the concept of peace and pacifism and they often appear in political cartoons, on banners and signs at events promoting peace, and in pacifist literature. A person who is a pacifist is sometimes referred to as a dove, Picassos lithograph, La Colombe, a traditional, realistic picture of a pigeon, without an olive branch, was chosen as the emblem for the World Peace Congress in Paris in April 1949. The dove became a symbol for the movement and the ideals of the Communist Party and was used in Communist demonstrations of the period. At the 1950 World Peace Congress in Sheffield, Picasso said that his father had him to paint doves, concluding, I stand for life against death

37.
Eagle (heraldry)
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The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. The eagle with its keen eyes symbolized perspicacity, courage, strength and immortality, with these attributed qualities the eagle became a symbol of power and strength in Ancient Rome. The eagle as a symbol has a much longer than that of heraldry itself. In Ancient Egypt, the falcon was the symbol of Horus, an eagle appears on the battle standard of Cyrus the Great in Persia, around 540 BC. The eagle as an animal of the Roman Republic was introduced in 102 BC by consul Gaius Marius. According to Islamic tradition, the Black Standard of Muhammad was known as راية العُقاب rāyat al-uqāb banner of the eagle), in Christian symbolism the four living creatures of scripture have traditionally been associated with the Four Evangelists. The eagle is the symbol of Saint John the Evangelist, in medieval and modern heraldry eagles are often said to indicate that the armiger was courageous, a man of action and judicious. Where an eagles wings were spread it was said to indicate the role as a protector. In the same way that a lion is considered the king of beasts and it has been more widely used and more highly regarded in Continental European heraldry than in English heraldry. For instance, in the roll of Henry III of England there are only three eagles, media related to examples of heraldic eagles at Wikimedia Commons The depiction of the heraldic eagle is subject to a great range of variation in style. The eagle was far more common in continental European—particularly German—than English heraldry and it is often depicted membered / armed and langued gules, that is, with red claws / talons and tongue. In its relatively few instances in Gallo-British heraldry, the outermost feathers are typically longer, an eagle can appear either single- or double-headed. On at least one occasion a three-headed eagle is seen, recursant describes an eagle with his head turned to the sinister. In full aspect describes an eagle with his head facing the onlooker, in trian aspect describes when the eagles head is facing at a three-quarter view to give the appearance of depth – with the head cocked at an angle somewhere between profile and straight-on. Overture or close is when the wings are shown at the sides and close to the body, addorsed is when the eagle is shown statant and ready to fly, with the wings shown open behind the eagle so that they almost touch. Espanie or épandre is when the eagle is shown affronté and the wings are shown with the tips upward, abaisé is when the eagle is shown affronté and the wings are shown with the tips downward. A good example is the eagle on the side of the US quarter dollar coin. Klee-Stengeln are the pair of long-stemmed trefoil-type charges on the wings of 13th-century German depictions of the heraldic eagle and they represent the upper edge of the wings and are normally Or, like the beak and claws

38.
Pelican
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Pelicans are a genus of large water birds that makes up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterised by a beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey. They have predominantly pale plumage, the exceptions being the brown, the bills, pouches and bare facial skin of all species become brightly coloured before the breeding season. Ibises, spoonbills, herons and the desolate bitterns have been classified in the same order, fossil evidence of pelicans dates back to at least 30 million years to the remains of a beak very similar to that of modern species recovered from Oligocene strata in France. Pelicans frequent inland and coastal waters where they feed principally on fish and they are gregarious birds, travelling in flocks, hunting cooperatively and breeding colonially. Four white-plumaged species tend to nest on the ground, and four brown or grey-plumaged species nest mainly in trees, the relationship between pelicans and people has often been contentious. The birds have been persecuted because of their competition with commercial and recreational fishing. Their populations have fallen through habitat destruction, disturbance and environmental pollution and they also have a long history of cultural significance in mythology, and in Christian and heraldic iconography. The genus Pelecanus was first formally described by Linnaeus in 1758 in the edition of his Systema Naturae. He described the characteristics as a straight bill hooked at the tip, linear nostrils, a bare face. This early definition included frigatebirds, cormorants, and sulids as well as pelicans, the name comes from the Ancient Greek word pelekan, which is itself derived from the word pelekys meaning axe. In classical times, the word was applied to both the pelican and the woodpecker, the family Pelecanidae was introduced by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. Pelicans give their name to the Pelecaniformes, an order which has a varied taxonomic history, in their place, herons, ibises, spoonbills, the hamerkop and the shoebill have now been transferred into Pelecaniformes. Molecular evidence suggests that the shoebill and the form a sister group to the pelicans. Its beak is almost complete and is identical to that of present-day pelicans. The Late Eocene Protopelicanus may be a pelecaniform or suliform – or an aquatic bird such as a pseudotooth. The supposed Miocene pelican Liptornis from Patagonia is a nomen dubium, fossil finds from North America have been meagre compared with Europe, which has a richer fossil record. The Dalmatian, pink-backed and spot-billed were all related to one another

39.
Seahorse
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Seahorse is the name given to 54 species of small marine fishes in the genus Hippocampus. Hippocampus comes from the Ancient Greek word hippos meaning horse and kampos meaning sea monster, the word seahorse can also be written as two separate words, or hyphenated. Having a head and neck suggestive of a horse, seahorses also feature segmented bony armour, an upright posture, four species are found in Pacific waters from North America to South America. In the Atlantic, H. erectus ranges from Nova Scotia to Uruguay, H. zosterae, known as the dwarf seahorse, is found in the Bahamas. Colonies have been found in European waters such as the Thames Estuary, three species live in the Mediterranean Sea, H. guttulatus, H. hippocampus, and H. fuscus. These species form territories, males stay within 1 m2 of habitat, seahorses range in size from 1.5 to 35.5 cm. They are named for their appearance with bent necks and long snouted heads followed by their distinctive trunk. Although they are fish, they do not have scales, but rather thin skin stretched over a series of bony plates. Each species has a number of rings. Seahorses swim upright, another characteristic not shared by their close pipefish relatives, razorfish are the only other fish that swim vertically. They swim upright propelling themselves by using the dorsal fin, the pectoral fins located on either side of the head are used for maneuvering. They lack the caudal fin typical of fishes and their prehensile tail can only be unlocked in the most extreme conditions. They are adept at camouflage with the ability to grow and reabsorb spiny appendages depending on their habitat, unusual among fish, a seahorse has a flexible, well-defined neck. It also sports a crown-like spine or horn on its head, termed a coronet, seahorses swim very poorly, rapidly fluttering a dorsal fin and using pectoral fins to steer. The slowest-moving fish in the world is H. zosterae, with a top speed of about 5 ft per hour, since they are poor swimmers, they are most likely to be found resting with their prehensile tails wound around a stationary object. They have long snouts, which use to suck up food. Anatomical evidence, supported by molecular, physical, and genetic evidence, the fossil record of seahorses, however, is very sparse. The best known and best studied fossils are specimens of H. guttulatus, from the Marecchia River Formation of Rimini Province, Italy, dating back to the Lower Pliocene, molecular dating finds that pipefish and seahorses diverged during the Late Oligocene

Seahorse
Seahorse
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Spiny seahorse H. histrix from East Timor holding on to soft coral with its prehensile tail
Seahorse
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Pregnant seahorse at the New York Aquarium
Seahorse
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Seahorses rely on stealth to ambush small prey such as copepods. They use pivot feeding to catch the copepod, which involves rotating their snout at high speed and then sucking in the copepod.

40.
Esox
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Esox is a genus of freshwater fish, the only living genus in the family Esocidae—the esocids which were endemic to North America and Eurasia during the Paleogene through present. The species of this genus are known as pike and pickerel, the type species is E. lucius, the northern pike. The big pike species are native to the Palearctic and Nearctic ecozones, ranging across northern North America, pikes have the elongated, torpedo-like form of predatory fishes, with sharply pointed heads and sharp teeth. Their coloration is typically grey-green with a mottled or spotted appearance with stripes along their backs, individual pike marking patterns are unique, like fingerprints. Pike can grow to a recorded length of 1.83 m. There currently seven recognized species in genus, Esox aquitanicus Denys, Dettai, Persat. Two additional fossil species from this family are place in their own genera, Estesesox foxi Wilson, Brinkman & Neuman,1992, pliny uses the Latin form Esox in reference to a large fish in the Rhine normally identified with salmonidae. The English common name pike is an apparent shortening of pike-fish, in reference to its pointed head, the plural of pike is pike. A northern English and Lowland Scots name for the pike, ged, the Dutch name for the pike has been given to a wide variety of fish reminding sailors of the pike. The English pike originally referred specifically to the fish, the diminutive form pickerel referring to the young. The walleye is sometimes called a pickerel, but it is unrelated to the pike, Pike are not to be confused with the unrelated pikeminnows of genus Ptychocheilus or pikeperch which is more akin to walleye than to pike. Pike are also called jackfish in North America and informally slough shark in Western Canada, Pike feed on a wide range of food sources, predominantly smaller shoal fish. Pike are also cannibalistic, sometimes preying upon smaller members of their own species and this can be seen clearly in the northern pike. They will also prey on insects and amphibians such as newts or frogs in times when their food is scarce. Small birds such as ducklings may become a target for hungry pike, Pike are also known to prey on swimming snakes. They are, however, undeserving of their reputation for being overly vicious predators, there are few substantiated incidents of pike attacks on people. Effective methods for catching this fish include dead baits, live baits. Pike can easily be damaged when handled since they are not as robust as their reputation would suggest, colour of lure can be influenced by water clarity and weather conditions

41.
Scallop
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Scallop is a common name that is primarily applied to any one of numerous species of saltwater clams or marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name scallop is also applied to species in other closely related families within the superfamily Pectinoidea. Scallops are a family of bivalves which are found in all of the worlds oceans. They are one of few groups of bivalves to be primarily free-living, with many species capable of rapidly swimming short distances. Scallops have a nervous system, and unlike most other bivalves all scallops have a ring of numerous simple eyes situated around the edge of their mantles. Many species of scallop are highly prized as a food source, the word scallop is also applied to the meat of these bivalves when it is sold as seafood. Owing to their distribution, scallop shells are a common sight on beaches and are often brightly coloured. Scallops inhabit all the oceans of the world, with the largest number of living in the Indo-Pacific region. Most species live in shallow waters from the low tide line to 100 meters. Although some species live in very narrow environments, most are opportunistic. Scallops can be living within, upon, or under either rocks, coral, rubble, sea grass, kelp, sand. Most scallops begin their lives as byssally attached juveniles, an ability that some retain throughout their lives while others grow into freeliving adults. There is very little variation in the arrangement of organs and systems within the scallop family. The shell of a scallop consists of two sides or valves, a valve and a right one, divided by a plane of symmetry. Most species of scallop rest on their right valve, and consequently this valve is often deeper and these ears may be of similar size and shape, or the anterior ear may be somewhat larger. As is the case in almost all bivalves, a series of lines and/ or growth rings originate at the center of the hinge and these growth rings increase in size downwards until they reach the curved ventral edge of the shell. The shell of most scallops is streamlined to facilitate ease of movement during swimming at some point in the cycle, while also providing protection from predators. Scallops with ridged valves have the advantage of the architectural strength provided by these ridges called ribs, although the ribs are somewhat costly in terms of weight and mass

Scallop
Scallop
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The characteristic fan shape of a scallop shell (Pecten albicans). Scallops can swim with brief bursts of speed by clapping their shells together.
Scallop
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Live Placopecten magellanicus, the Atlantic deep-sea scallop. Bordering the edge of its mantle are over 100 simple eyes
Scallop
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A live opened scallop showing the internal anatomy: The pale orange circular part is the adductor muscle; the darker orange curved part is the "coral", a culinary term for the ovary or roe.

42.
Legendary creature
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A legendary creature is an animal or part human described in non-historical stories that sometimes involve the supernatural. In the classical era, monstrous creatures such as the Cyclops, other creatures, such as the unicorn, were claimed in accounts of natural history by various scholars of antiquity. Some legendary creatures have their origin in traditional mythology and were believed to be creatures, for example dragons, griffins. Others were based on real encounters, originating in garbled accounts of travelers tales, such as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, a variety of mythical animals appear in the art and stories of the Classical era. For example in the Odyssey, monstrous creatures include the Cyclops, Scylla, in other tales there appear the Medusa to be defeated by Perseus, the Minotaur to be destroyed by Theseus, and the Hydra to be killed by Heracles, while Aeneas battles with the harpies. These monsters thus have the function of emphasising the greatness of the heroes involved. Some classical era creatures, such as the centaur, chimaera, Triton, similarly, sphinxes appear as winged lions in Indian art. In Medieval art, animals, both real and mythical, played important roles and these included decorative forms as in Medieval jewellery, sometimes with their limbs intricately interlaced. Animal forms were used to add humour or majesty to objects, in Christian art, animals carried symbolic meanings, where for example the lamb symbolised Christ, a dove indicated the Holy Spirit, and the classical griffin represented a guardian of the dead. Medieval bestiaries included animals regardless of reality, the basilisk represented the devil. One function of animals in the Middle Ages was allegory. Unicorns, for example, were described as swift and unable to be caught by traditional methods. It was believed that the way for one to catch this beast was to lead a virgin to its dwelling. Then, the unicorn was supposed to leap into her lap and go to sleep, in terms of symbolism, the unicorn was a metaphor for Christ. Unicorns represented the idea of innocence and purity, in the King James Bible, Psalm 92,10 states, My horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn. This is because the translators of the King James erroneously translated the Hebrew word reem as unicorn, later versions translate this as wild ox. The unicorn’s small size signifies the humility of Christ, another common legendary creature which served allegorical functions within the Middle Ages was the dragon. Dragons were identified with serpents, though their attributes were greatly intensified, the dragon was supposed to have been larger than all other animals

43.
Allocamelus
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In heraldry, the Allocamelus was the depiction of a mythical creature with the head of a donkey and the body of a camel. It is the representation of the llama. It was first used as a crest for the English Eastland Company, and later by the Russia Company

Allocamelus
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Allocamelus from Edward Topsell 's The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents, 1658. The image was originally from a Dutch work published in 1558. Topsell believed that the creature was the offspring of a camel and mule.

44.
Alphyn
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An Alphyn, also known as awfyn or alfin in older writings, is a rare heraldic creature. It is much like a tiger, but stockier and with tufts of hair covering its body. Another notable characteristic is its tail, reminiscent of Celtic design. Sometimes it is depicted as having an eagles or dragons talons on its forelegs, other times they are cloven, occasionally all four feet are depicted as having the claws of a lion. In English heraldry, the Alphyn was used as a badge of the Lords de la Warr

45.
Basilisk
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In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk is a legendary reptile reputed to be king of serpents and said to have the power to cause death with a single glance. It is possible that the legend of the basilisk and its association with the weasel in Europe was inspired by accounts of certain species of Asiatic snakes and their natural predator, the basilisk is called king because it is reputed to have on its head a mitre- or crown-shaped crest. Stories of the show that it is not completely distinguished from the cockatrice. The basilisk is alleged to be hatched by a cockerel from the egg of a serpent or toad, in Medieval Europe, the description of the creature began taking on features from cockerels. One of the earliest accounts of the basilisk comes from Pliny the Elders Natural History and it is produced in the province of Cyrene, being not more than twelve fingers in length. It has a spot on the head, strongly resembling a sort of a diadem. When it hisses, all the other serpents fly from it, and it does not advance its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but moves along upright and erect upon the middle. It destroys all shrubs, not only by its contact, but those even that it has breathed upon, it burns up all the grass, too, and breaks the stones, so tremendous is its noxious influence. It was formerly a general belief that if a man on horseback killed one of animals with a spear, the poison would run up the weapon and kill, not only the rider. The animal is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self, isidore of Seville defined the basilisk as the king of snakes, due to its killing glare and its poisonous breath. The Venerable Bede was the first to attest to the legend of the birth of a basilisk from an egg by an old cockerel, and then other authors added the condition of Sirius being ascendant. Alexander Neckam was the first to say not the glare but the air corruption was the killing tool of the basilisk. Theophilus Presbyter gives a recipe in his book for creating a basilisk to convert copper into Spanish gold. The compound was formed by combining powdered basilisk blood, powdered human blood, red copper, albertus Magnus in the De animalibus wrote about the killing gaze of the basilisk, but he denied other legends, such as the rooster hatching the egg. Geoffrey Chaucer featured a basilicok in his Canterbury Tales, according to some legends, basilisks can be killed by hearing the crow of a rooster or gazing at itself through a mirror. The latter method of killing the beast is featured in the legend of the basilisk of Warsaw, stories gradually added to the basilisks deadly capabilities, such as describing it as a larger beast, capable of breathing fire and killing with the sound of its voice. Some writers even claimed it could not only by touch

46.
Biscione
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It was the emblem of the House of Visconti from the 11th century, becoming associated with Milan as the Visconti gained control over the city in 1277. The word biscione is an augmentative of Italian biscia non-venomous snake, a similar design is found in the seals of the Hungarian nobleman Nicholas I Garay, palatine to the King of Hungary. Here the crowned snake devours a Sovereigns Orb, rather than a human, comparable to the biscione are some depictions of the Hindu deity Matsya. In Early Christian Art of the catacombs, the Old Testament prophet Jonah is depicted as a man being swallowed by a serpent-like Leviathan, flag of Milan History of Milan Basilisk Leviathan

47.
Dragon
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A dragon is a legendary creature, typically scaled or fire-spewing and with serpentine, reptilian or avian traits, that features in the myths of many cultures around world. The two most well-known cultural traditions of dragon are The European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Balkans, most are depicted as reptilian creatures with animal-level intelligence, and are uniquely six-limbed. The Chinese dragon, with counterparts in Japan, Korea and other East Asian, most are depicted as serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence, and are quadrupeds. The two traditions may have evolved separately, but have influenced each other to a certain extent, the English word dragon and Latin word draco derives from Greek δράκων, dragon, serpent of huge size, water-snake. The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological, a dragon is a mythological representation of a reptile. In antiquity, dragons were mostly envisaged as serpents, but since the Middle Ages, it has become common to them with legs. Dragons are usually shown in modern times with a body like a huge lizard, the European dragon has bat-like wings growing from its back. A dragon-like creature with wings but only a pair of legs is known as a wyvern. The association of the serpent with a monstrous opponent overcome by a deity has its roots in the mythology of the Ancient Near East, including Canaanite, Hittite. Humbaba, the fire-breathing dragon-fanged beast first described in the Epic of Gilgamesh, is described as a dragon with Gilgamesh playing the part of dragon-slayer. The folk-lore motif of the dragon guarding gold may have come from earlier Bronze Age customs of introducing serpents to village granaries to deter rats or mice. Although dragons occur in many legends around the world, different cultures have varying stories about monsters that have been grouped together under the dragon label, some dragons are said to breathe fire or to be poisonous, such as in the Old English poem Beowulf. They are commonly portrayed as serpentine or reptilian, hatching from eggs and they are sometimes portrayed as hoarding treasure. Some myths portray them with a row of dorsal spines, European dragons are more often winged, while Chinese dragons resemble large snakes. Dragons can have a number of legs, none, two, four, or more when it comes to early European literature. Dragons are often held to have spiritual significance in various religions. In many Asian cultures, dragons were, and in some still are, revered as representative of the primal forces of nature, religion. They are associated with wisdom—often said to be wiser than humans—and longevity and they are commonly said to possess some form of magic or other supernatural power, and are often associated with wells, rain, and rivers

48.
Enfield (heraldry)
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The enfield is a fictitious creature sometimes used in heraldry. The Enfield has the head of a fox, forelegs like an eagles talons, the chest of a greyhound, the body of a lion, the earliest known example of the enfield is the crest of the Ó Cellaigh clan of Ireland. Ó Cellaigh of Uí Maine are the most documented OKelly sept in early Irish history, the enfield appears in Leabhar Ua Maine. When Tadhg Mor fell this mythical beast issued from the sea to protect the dead body of the chief until it was retrieved for proper burial by his kinsmen. The animal is sculptured on many old tombstones of the OKelly family in the Abbey of Kilconnell, neither is the term enfield given or explained in Crossleys Signification of things borne in Heraldry. It is not sure whether the beast has any connection with the town. In Australia, it was used in the crest of the former City of Enfield, South Australia and it is also used as the centrepiece of the squadron crest of 38 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force, in Queensland. The Enfield Society International Civic Heraldry

Enfield (heraldry)
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The coat of arms of the O Kelly of Ui Maine, featuring a green enfield as the crest

49.
Pegasus
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Pegasus is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god and he was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing when his mother was decapitated by Perseus. Greco-Roman poets write about his ascent to heaven after his birth and his obeisance to Zeus, king of the gods, friend of the Muses, Pegasus is the creator of Hippocrene, the fountain on Mt. Helicon. He was captured by the Greek hero Bellerophon near the fountain Peirene with the help of Athena, Pegasus allows the hero to ride him to defeat a monster, the Chimera, before realizing many other exploits. His rider, however, falls off his back trying to reach Mount Olympus, Zeus transformed him into the constellation Pegasus and placed him up in the sky. Hypotheses have been proposed regarding its relationship with the Muses, the gods Athena, Poseidon, Zeus, Apollo, the symbolism of Pegasus varies with time. Pegasus is the subject of a rich iconography, especially through the ancient Greek pottery and paintings. The poet Hesiod presents an etymology of the name Pegasus as derived from πηγή pēgē spring, well, the pegai of Okeanos. A proposed etymology of the name is Luwian pihassas, meaning lightning, and Pihassassi, the proponents of this etymology adduce Pegasus role, reported as early as Hesiod, as bringer of thunderbolts to Zeus. It was first suggested in 1952 and remains widely accepted, according to legend, everywhere the winged horse struck his hoof to the earth, an inspiring spring burst forth. Hesiod relates how Pegasus was peacefully drinking from a spring when the hero Bellerophon captured him, Hesiod also says Pegasus carried thunderbolts for Zeus. In another version, when Perseus beheaded Medusa, they were born of the Earth, a variation of this story holds that they were formed from the mingling of Medusas blood, pain and sea foam, implying that Poseidon had involvement in their making. The last version bears resemblance to Hesiods account of the birth of Aphrodite from the foam created when Uranuss severed genitals were cast into the sea by Cronus, Pegasus aided the hero Bellerophon in his fight against both the Chimera. The next morning, still clutching the bridle, he found Pegasus drinking at the Pierian spring and caught Pegasus, michauds Biographie universelle relates that when Pegasus was born, he flew to where thunder and lightning are released. Then, according to versions of the myth, Athena tamed him and gave him to Perseus. In fact Pegasus is an addition to the story of Perseus. Pegasus and Athena left Bellerophon and continued to Olympus where he was stabled with Zeus other steeds, because of his faithful service to Zeus, he was honoured with transformation into a constellation

50.
Salamanders in folklore and legend
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The legendary salamander is often depicted as a typical salamander in shape, with a lizard-like form, but is usually ascribed an affinity with fire, sometimes specifically elemental fire. This legendary creature embodies the qualities that ancient and medieval commentators ascribed to the natural salamander. Many of these qualities are rooted in verifiable traits of the natural creature, a large body of legend, mythology, and symbolism has developed around this creature over the centuries. Pliny recounts several other traits which are less credible, such as the ability to fire with the frigidity of their bodies. These substances are often excreted when the animal is threatened, which has the effect of deterring predators. The salamander is also mentioned in the Talmud as a creature that is a product of fire, rashi, the primary commentator on the Talmud, describes the salamander as one which is produced by burning a fire in the same place for seven years. According to Sahih Bukhari, Muhammad said that salamanders are mischief-doers, saint Augustine in the City of God used the example of salamanders to argue for the possibility of humans being punished by being burned in eternal flame in Purgatory. A frequently-cited illustration of a salamander is presented in an influential 20th-century occult work by Manly P. Hall, Secret Teachings of All Ages, in which it is attributed to Paracelsus. This illustration appears to originate in a 1527 anti-papal tract by Andreas Osiander and Hans Sachs, descriptions of the legendary form are more likely to use stylized depictions. In Medieval European bestiaries, fanciful depictions of salamanders include a creature in a circular wooden tub, a worm penetrating flames, a winged dog. Compared to Medieval depictions, Renaissance depictions are more realistic. Of all the traits ascribed to salamanders, the relating to fire have stood out most prominently. This connection probably originates from a common to many species of salamander, hibernating in. When wood was brought indoors and put on the fire, the creatures mysteriously appeared from the flames, the 16th-century Italian artist Benvenuto Cellini famously recalled witnessing just such an appearance as a child in his autobiography. This tradition is first found in the Hieroglyphica of Horapollo, leonardo da Vinci wrote the following on the salamander, This has no digestive organs, and gets no food but from the fire, in which it constantly renews its scaly skin. The salamander, which renews its scaly skin in the fire, later, Paracelsus suggested that the salamander was the elemental of fire, which has had substantial influence on the role of salamanders in the occult. Paracelsus, contrary to the prevalent view of the time, considered them to be not devils, francis I of France used the salamander as his symbol. The salamander is found throughout French folklore, although in differing form, in addition or sometimes instead of its fire symbolism, it was attributed a powerful poison

Salamanders in folklore and legend
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A 16th-century image of a salamander from The Book of Lambspring
Salamanders in folklore and legend
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Sixteenth-century woodcut questionably identified as a depiction of a salamander by M.P. Hall
Salamanders in folklore and legend
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A Central European fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra)

51.
Hippocampus (mythology)
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It was also adopted into Etruscan mythology. The hippocampus has typically been depicted as having the body of a horse with the lower body of a fish. Coins minted at Tyre around the 4th century BC show the patron god Melqart riding on a winged hippocampus, coins of the same period from Byblos show a hippocampus diving under a galley. A gold sea-horse was discovered in a horde from the kingdom of Lydia in Asia minor and this compares to the specifically two-hoofed hippocampi of Gaius Valerius Flaccus in his Argonautica, Orion when grasping his father’s reins heaves the sea with the snorting of his two-hooved horses. In Hellenistic and Roman imagery, however, Poseidon often drives a sea-chariot drawn by hippocampi. Thus hippocampi sport with this god in ancient depictions and much more modern ones, such as in the waters of the 18th-century Trevi Fountain in Rome surveyed by Neptune from his niche above. The appearance of hippocampi in both freshwater and saltwater is counter-intuitive to an audience, though not to an ancient one. Thus it was natural for a temple at Helike in the plain of Achaea to be dedicated to Poseidon Helikonios. When an earthquake suddenly submerged the city, the temples bronze Poseidon accompanied by hippocampi continued to snag fishermens nets, likewise, the hippocampus was considered an appropriate decoration for mosaics in Roman thermae or public baths, as at Aquae Sulis modern day Bath in Britannia. In the fore-temple are images, two of Poseidon, a third of Amphitrite, and a Sea, which also is of bronze, on the car stand Amphitrite and Poseidon, and there is the boy Palaemon upright upon a dolphin. These too are made of ivory and gold, on the middle of the base on which the car has been wrought a Sea holding up the young Aphrodite, and on either side are the nymphs called Nereids. Katharine Shepard found in the theme an Etruscan belief in a sea-voyage to the other world, the sea-horse also appears in Pictish stone carvings in Scotland. The symbolism of the carving is unknown, although similar but not identical to Roman sea-horse images, it is unclear whether this depiction originates from images brought over by the Romans, or had a place in earlier Pictish mythology. The mythic hippocampus has been used as a charge, particularly since the Renaissance, most often in the armorial bearings of people. However, in a blazon, the terms hippocamp and hippocampus now refer to the animal called a seahorse. The above-mentioned fish hybrids are less frequently. The sea-horse is also an image in Renaissance and post-renaissance art, for example, in the Trevi fountain. A winged hippocampus has been used as a symbol for Air France since its establishment in 1933, bronze hippocampoi appear in Dublin, Ireland on lampposts next to a statue of Henry Grattan and on Grattan Bridge

52.
Hippogriff
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The hippogriff, or sometimes hippogryph is a legendary creature which has the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse. The first recorded mention of the hippogriff was made by the Latin poet Virgil in his Eclogues, though sometimes depicted during the Classical Era and during the rule of the Merovingians, it was used by Ludovico Ariosto in his Orlando Furioso, at the beginning of the 16th century. Within the poem, the hippogriff is a steed born of a mare and it is ridden by magicians and the wandering knight Ruggiero, who, from the creature’s back, frees the beautiful Angelica. Sometimes depicted on coats of arms, the hippogriff became a subject of visual art in the 19th century. The word hippogriff was adopted into English shortly before 1615, the hippogriff is a symbol of the Greek god Apollo, either through his connection to the Muses or as god of the sun. Buonarotti is stated to have believed that the worship of Apollo, of the heraldic representations of the hippogriff, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies states that hybrid fantastical creatures depictions are ugly, inartistic, and unnecessary. Their representation leaves one with a feeling of crudity of draughtsmanship. John Vinycomb states that the hippogriff is not used in the British heraldic tradition, Ludovico Ariostos poem, Orlando furioso contains description, XVIII no fiction wrought magic lore, But natural was the steed the wizard pressed, For him a filly to griffin bore, Hight hippogryph. In wings and beak and crest, Formed like his sire, as in the feet before, But like the mare, his dam, such on Riphaean hills, though rarely found, Are bred, beyond the frozen oceans bound. This only real, Where all the rest was hollow and ideal, claw marks were found on a rock near Mas Carol. In some traditions, the hippogriff is said to be the symbol of love, as its parents, in other traditions, the hippogriff represents Christs dual nature as both human and divine. Artist Max Klinger used the hippogriff amongst other objects in his drawing Fantasy, in a hoax initially perpetrated in 1904 in Lake George, New York State, tricksters used a fake “monster” which became known as The Hippogriff. The creation had a head of a bird of prey, teeth, the pranks and sightings faded until 1999 when several people staying at the Island Harbour House Hotel stated they had seen a sea monster at night. The old hoax was uncovered by the Daily News and the Lake George Historical Association Museum, the hippogriff appears in various works of fantasy, such as works of E. Nesbit and E. R. Eddisons The Worm Ouroboros. According to the rules, the creatures are closely related to griffins. A hippogriff named Buckbeak features prominently in Harry Potter, al Roker calls the creation of Buckbeak in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban one of the most magnificent and realistic creatures in film history. Griffin Pegasus Media related to Hippogriff at Wikimedia Commons Ariosto, Harry Potter and Hippogriffs, weaving textual webs

Hippogriff
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Roger délivrant Angélique (1824) by Louis-Édouard Rioult depicts the scene of Orlando Furioso where Ruggiero rescues Angelique while riding on a hippogriff.
Hippogriff
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Hippogriff, illustration by Gustave Doré for Orlando furioso.
Hippogriff
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An animatronic Hippogriff in the nest on the left side of the lift hill of the roller coaster Flight of the Hippogriff in Orlando, Florida

53.
Turul
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The Turul is a mythological bird of prey, mostly depicted as a hawk or falcon, in Hungarian tradition and a national symbol of modern Hungary. The Turul is probably based on a falcon, and the origin of the word is most likely Turkic, togrıl or turgul means a medium to large bird of prey of the family Accipitridae. In Hungarian the word sólyom means falcon, and there are three ancient words describing different kinds of falcons, kerecsen, zongor and turul, in Hungarian tradition, it presumably originated as the clan symbol used in the 9th and 10th centuries by the ruling House of Arpad. The Turul is used as in the design of coats of arms of the Hungarian Army, the Counter Terrorism Centre, there were 3 large Turul statues, each with a wingspan of 15 metres, in Greater Hungary. The last of the three stands on a mountain near Tatabánya, Hungary, but the two were destroyed. It is the largest bird statue in Europe, and the largest bronze statue in Central Europe, there remain 195 Turul statues in Hungary, as well as 48 in Romania,8 in Slovakia,7 in Serbia,5 in Ukraine,1 in Austria. Oksoko Konrul National symbols of Hungary Historical coat of arms of Transylvania Tughril Hungarian Mythology - The origin of the mythical bird, and its connection to the hun culture

54.
Wyvern
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A wyvern is a legendary creature with a dragons head and wings, a reptilian body, two legs, and a tail. A sea-dwelling variant dubbed the sea-wyvern has a tail in place of a barbed dragons tail. The wyvern in its various forms is important to heraldry, frequently appearing as a mascot of schools and it is a popular creature in European and British literature, video games, and modern fantasy. The wyvern is often associated with weather and ice, and it will sometimes possess a venomous bite. The usual spelling wyvern is not attested before the century as winged two-footed dragon. It is an alteration of Middle English wyver, from Old French wivre, itself from Latin vīpera, meaning viper, adder, the design of the wyvern to have derived from the figure of the dragon encountered by Trajans legions in Dacia. It may be the origin of the red dragon of Wales, the wyvern has often been confused with the dragon, due to the similarities between them and due to the wyvern being a lesser-known mythical creature. In the Middle Ages, no distinction was made between the two. In the fantasy genre, the wyvern is usually considered to have two legs, whereas the dragon may have four or none. The wyvern is regarded, moreover, as the distant, lesser cousin to the dragon, Wyverns tend to be smaller, weaker, not as intelligent, and ultimately inferior to the much more ferocious and powerful dragon. While a dragon almost always has the ability to breathe fire and those that can breathe fire are sometimes termed fire drakes and are still considered a lesser form. A wyvern will typically be unable to speak, while a dragon often does have that ability, the wyvern features frequently in modern fantasy fiction, though its first literary appearances may have been in medieval bestiaries. In fantasy film and gaming wyverns are commonly found substituting in place of traditional European dragons while still simply being called dragons as in Reign of Fire or The Elder Scrolls V, Skyrim. In the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, Hookfang and Stormfly are both wyverns, while all the others are more traditional dragons. In some of the Dean Koontz novels Fort Wyvern is described on the California coast as a mysterious, partially abandoned, in the science fiction novel Bolo Strike, by Keith Laumer, the main character, a bolo named Victor, deploys aerial reconnaisance drones dubbed Wyverns. The wyvern is a frequent charge in English heraldry and vexillology, the term sans legs may not imply that the wyvern was without legs, rather that its legs are not depicted, being hidden or folded under. This was adopted by the Midland Railway in 1845, when it became the crest of its coat of arms. The company asserted that the wyvern was the standard of the Kingdom of Mercia, however, in 1897 the Railway Magazine noted that there appeared to be no foundation that the wyvern was associated with the Kingdom of Mercia

55.
Bat (heraldry)
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The bat as a heraldic symbol is primarily represented in the coats of arms of certain important towns of the former Crown of Aragon. It appears mostly at the top, above the crown over the shield, the heraldic use of the bat in Valencia, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands has its origins in a winged dragon or Wyrm that was crowning the helmet or cimera reial of the Kings of Aragon. However, original state that the animal was a swallow. The coats of arms of cities in eastern Spain, like Valencia, Palma, Mallorca. Also smaller towns, like Catarroja and Novallas, use this symbol, formerly the Barcelona city coat of arms had a bat crowning it as well, but the bat was removed at the beginning of the 20th century for unknown reasons. The city of Teruel used to have the bat surmounting the coat of arms crown, there the bat represents a commemoration of the role of this city in the conquest of Valencia. The bat now rests just below the crown in Teruels seal, the use of the bat as a heraldic symbol is prevalent in the territories of the former Crown of Aragon and it is rarely used elsewhere. Outside of the European continent, the coat of arms of Santa Fe de Antioquia has multiple bats and it was granted to the town in 1545 by Charles I of Castile and Aragon and his mother, Joanna of Castile. Based on the symbol of their city, certain Spanish association football club badges, like Albacete Balompié, CD Alcoyano, Levante UD. The ancient badge of the FC Barcelona, used during the 1899-1910 period, had a bat crowning it as well. The Burgee of the Royal Valencia Yacht Club displays a bat on a field in its center. Lo Rat Penat, a organization based in Valencia in 1878, was named after the heraldic bat. Established by Constantí Llombart, Teodor Llorente and Fèlix Pizcueta, its aim was originally to foster a movement similar to the Catalan Renaixença in the region of Valencia. The No.9 Squadron RAF adopted the bat badge in 1917 along with the Latin motto Per Noctem Volamus We fly through the night, the badge was approved by King Edward VIII in November 1936

56.
Toad (heraldry)
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Crapaud is a French word meaning toad in English. Crapaud is sometimes used as a reference to the Fleur-de-lys on the ancient heraldic flag of the kings of France. The three fleurs-de-lys were sometimes misinterpreted as three toads erect, saltant, instead of three lily flowers, the word crapaud is used extensively by Richard Sharpe as a derogatory term for the French, the fictional character depicted in Bernard Cornwells novels set during the Napoleonic Wars. Jean Crapaud, also Johnny Crappeau or Johnny Crappo, defined by Websters Online Dictionary, is a name given to a Frenchman. It is intended as a personification of the French people as a whole in much the same sense as John Bull is to the English. It is sometimes used as a device to refer to a typical Frenchman. The name Crapaud is used in the Channel Islands to describe a person from Jersey in a derogatory way, the name meaning toad in the local Patois languages, including Jèrriais and Guernésiais. Toads live in Jersey but not on the other islands, John Bull, Uncle Sam and Johnny Crapaud. John Bull, Uncle Sam and Johnny Crapaud, clovis Crawfish and the Curious Crapaud

57.
Eleftheria i thanatos
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Eleftheria i thanatos is the motto of Greece. It arose during the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s and it was adopted after the Greek War of Independence. It is still in use today, and is a theory regarding the use of 9 stripes in the Greek flag, the five blue stripes for the syllables Έλευθερία. The motto symbolized and still symbolizes the resolve of the people of Greece against tyranny, the Filiki Eteria at its emblem had the letters ΗΕΑ and ΗΘΣ. These are the letters of the words Ή ΕλευθερίΑ Ή ΘάνατοΣ, also, this is the motto of the 4th Infantry Division of the Greek Army. Nikos Kazantzakis novel Captain Michalis was subtitled Freedom or Death, which became its title in the United States, Germany, France, and other countries. Greek War of Independence Hymn to Liberty Live free or die God Save the South Give me liberty or give me death Liberté, égalité, fraternité Thanatos

58.
Greek War of Independence
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The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution, was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between 1821 and 1832 against the Ottoman Empire. Even several decades before the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, during this time, there were several revolt attempts by Greeks to gain independence from Ottoman control. In 1814, an organization called the Filiki Eteria was founded with the aim of liberating Greece. The Filiki Eteria planned to launch revolts in the Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities, the first of these revolts began on 6 March 1821 in the Danubian Principalities, but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. The events in the north urged the Greeks in the Peloponnese into action and on 17 March 1821 and this declaration was the start of a spring of revolutionary actions from other controlled states against the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the month, the Peloponnese was in revolt against the Turks and by October 1821. The Peloponnesian revolt was followed by revolts in Crete, Macedonia, and Central Greece. Meanwhile, the makeshift Greek navy was achieving success against the Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea, tensions soon developed among different Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. In the meantime, the Ottoman Sultan negotiated with Mehmet Ali of Egypt, although Ibrahim was defeated in Mani, he had succeeded in suppressing most of the revolt in the Peloponnese, and Athens had been retaken. Following years of negotiation, three Great Powers—Russia, Britain and France—decided to intervene in the conflict and each sent a navy to Greece. Following news that combined Ottoman–Egyptian fleets were going to attack the Greek island of Hydra, the battle began after a tense week-long standoff, ending in the destruction of the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet. As a result of years of negotiation, Greece was finally recognized as an independent nation in the Treaty of Constantinople of May 1832, the Revolution is celebrated by the modern Greek state as a national day on 25 March. The Fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453 and the subsequent fall of the states of the Byzantine Empire marked the end of Byzantine sovereignty. After that, the Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans and Anatolia, Orthodox Christians were granted some political rights under Ottoman rule, but they were considered inferior subjects. The majority of Greeks were called Rayah by the Turks, a name referred to the large mass of non-Muslim subjects under the Ottoman ruling class. Demetrius Chalcondyles called on Venice and all of the Latins to aid the Greeks against the abominable, monstrous, however, Greece was to remain under Ottoman rule for several more centuries. The Greek Revolution was not an event, numerous failed attempts at regaining independence took place throughout the history of the Ottoman era. Throughout the 17th century there was resistance to the Ottomans in the Morea and elsewhere

59.
National colours of Greece
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The national colours of Greece are blue and white. Blue and white are also the colours of Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, were the ancient national colours of Portugal. In March 1821, the Greek War of Independence broke out, the struggle to secure independence would continue until 1832. Later in the year, deputies from various provinces of Greece assembled at Piada in the First National Assembly to draft the first Greek Constitution, the Constitution of 1822 was the first of many which would lead to the modern Constitution. In addition to the constitution, the delegates selected Athens as the new national capital, the flag was raised at the Acrocorinth after its capture on 26 June 1822. In the Greco-Italian War, during which Italian forces occupied parts of Greece in 1940 and 1941, Greek civilians in Póthia would taunt the occupying forces by painting their houses in blue, some houses still retain this colouration among the more typical pink and ochre buildings. The coat of arms of Greece consists of a cross on a blue escutcheon which is surrounded by two laurel branches. The Flag of Greece is also blue and white, as defined by Law 851/1978 Regarding the National Flag and it specifies the colour of cyan, meaning blue, so the shade of blue is ambiguous. The Order of the Redeemer and military decoration Cross of Valour both have ribbons in the national colours

60.
Meander (art)
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A meander or meandros is a decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif. Such a design is called the Greek fret or Greek key design. Among some Italians, these patterns are known as Greek Lines, usually the term is used for motifs with straight lines and right angles, the many versions with rounded shapes are called running scrolls. Meanders are common elements in Greek and Roman art. In ancient Greece they appear in many architectural friezes, and in bands on the pottery of ancient Greece from the Geometric Period onwards, the design is common to the present-day in classicizing architecture. They were among the most important symbols in ancient Greece, and perhaps symbolized infinity and unity, the shield of Philip II of Macedon, conserved in the museum of Vergina, is decorated with multiple symbols of the meander. Meanders are also prevalent on the pavement mosaics found in Roman villas throughout the Roman empire, a good example is at the Chedworth Roman Villa in England, leading many historians to believe that the pattern was part of the original inspiration for the Latin G character. Meanders and their generalizations are used with increasing frequency in various domains of contemporary art, the painter Yang Liu, for example, has incorporated smooth versions of the traditional Greek Key in many of her paintings. The meander is also the used by many Greek nationalist groups such as the Golden Dawn

Meander (art)
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Meander pavement in the streets of Rhodes

61.
Vergina Sun
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The Vergina Sun is a rayed solar symbol appearing in ancient Greek art of the period between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC. The Vergina Sun proper has sixteen rays, while comparable symbols of the same period variously have sixteen, twelve. The name Vergina Sun refers specifically to archaeological excavations in and around the town of Vergina, in northern Greece, during the late 1970s. In older references, the name Argead Star or Star of the Argeadai is used for the Sun as the symbol of the Argead dynasty of Macedon. It came to prominence following archaeological excavations in and around the town of Vergina. There it was depicted on a golden larnax found in a 4th-century BC royal tomb belonging to either Philip II or Philip III of Macedon, eventually, in 1995 and as a result of this dispute, the young republics flag was revised into a different rayed solar symbol. Manolis Andronikos found the symbol on the believed to belong to Philip II of Macedon. The sunburst symbol was already well-known as a symbol used both by the Macedonian royal dynasty as well as in Hellenistic civilization more generally. The symbol represents the Sun god, which was taken as the deity of the Argead dynasty based on the foundational legend about Perdiccas I of Macedon as told by Herodotus. In the early 1980s, following the discovery of the larnax, in 1977/8, archaeologist Manolis Andronikos led excavations of burial mounds at the small Central Macedonian town of Vergina in Greece. There, by the perimeter of a mound, the Great Tumulus. The tombs were subsequently identified as burial sites for members of the late 4th-century BC Argead dynasty. Tombs II and III, however, remained undisturbed, still containing many artefacts, among them were two gold ash coffins in Tomb II and a silver funerary urn in Tomb III. The coffin of Tomb IIs primary occupant, the Golden Larnax, featured the sixteen-rayed sun design and that of the wife, entombed in the antechamber. Andronikos variously described the symbol as a star, starburst, and he posited the tomb might belong to King Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. Following the discovery at the Great Tumulus, there was debate over who had been buried there. It dated to the half of the 4th century BC. On 21 April 2000, the AAAS journal Science published The Eye Injury of King Philip II, in it, Bartsiokas cited osteological analyses to contradict the determination of Philip II as the tombs occupant and made a case for Philip III

62.
Mount Olympus
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Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece. It is located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, between the units of Pieria and Larissa, about 80 km southwest from Thessaloniki. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks, deep gorges, and exceptional biodiversity, the highest peak Mytikas, meaning nose, rises to 2,918 metres. It is one of the highest peaks in Europe in terms of topographic prominence, Olympus was notable in Greek mythology as the home of the Greek gods, on the Mytikas peak. Mount Olympus is also noted for its rich flora with several species. It has been a National Park, the first in Greece, since 1938 and it is also a Worlds Biosphere Reserve. Every year thousands of people visit Olympus to admire its fauna and flora, to tour its slopes, organized mountain refuges and various mountaineering and climbing routes are available to visitors who want to explore it. The usual starting point is the town of Litochoro, on the foothills of the mountain,100 km from Thessaloniki, where, in the beginning of every summer. The shape of Olympus was formed by rain and wind, which produced an isolated tower almost 3,000 metres above the sea, Olympus has many peaks and an almost circular shape. The mountain has a circumference of 150 kilometres, a diameter of 26 kilometres. To the northwest lies the Vlach village of Kokkinoplou, the Makryrema stream separates Olympus from the massif of Voulgara. The villages Petra, Vrontou and Dion lie to the northwest, while on the side there is the town of Litochoro. On its southeastern side, the Ziliana gorge divides Mount Olympus from Kato Olympos, while on its foothills, there are the villages Sykaminea. The Aghias Triadas Sparmou Monastery and the village Pythion lie to the west, Olympus dry foothills are known as the Xirokampi, containing chaparral and small animals. Further east, the plain of Dion is fertile and watered by the streams originate on Olympus. Mount Olympus is formed of rock laid down 200 million years ago in a shallow sea. Various geological events that caused the emergence of the whole region. Around one million years ago glaciers covered Olympus and created its plateaus, the complicated geological past of the region is obvious on the morphology of Olympus and its National Park

63.
Delphi
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Delphi is famous as the ancient sanctuary that grew rich as the seat of the oracle that was consulted on important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. Moreover, it was considered as the navel of the world by the Greeks as represented by the Omphalos and it occupies an impressive site on the south-western slope of Mount Parnassus overlooking the coastal plain to the south and the valley of Phocis. It is now an archaeological site and the modern town is nearby. The site of Delphi is located in upper central Greece, on multiple plateaux/terraces along the slope of Mount Parnassus, and includes the Sanctuary of Apollo and this semicircular spur is known as Phaedriades, and overlooks the Pleistos Valley. In myths dating to the period of Ancient Greece, the site of Delphi was believed to be determined by Zeus when he sought to find the centre of his Grandmother Earth. He sent two eagles flying from the eastern and western extremities, and the path of the eagles crossed over Delphi where the omphalos, Apollo was said to have slain Python, a drako a serpent or a dragon who lived there and protected the navel of the Earth. Python is claimed by some to be the name of the site in recognition of Python which Apollo defeated. The Homeric Hymn to Delphic Apollo recalled that the ancient name of this site had been Krisa, others relate that it was named Pytho and that Pythia, the priestess serving as the oracle, was chosen from their ranks by a group of priestesses who officiated at the temple. At the settlement site in Delphi, which was a settlement of the late 9th century. Pottery and bronze work as well as tripod dedications continue in a steady stream, the victors at Delphi were presented with a laurel crown which was ceremonially cut from a tree by a boy who re-enacted the slaying of the Python. Delphi was set apart from the other sites because it hosted the mousikos agon. These Pythian Games rank second among the four stephanitic games chronologically and these games, though, were different from the games at Olympia in that they were not of such vast importance to the city of Delphi as the games at Olympia were to the area surrounding Olympia. Delphi would have been a renowned city whether or not it hosted these games, it had other attractions that led to it being labeled the omphalos of the earth, in other words, in the inner hestia of the Temple of Apollo, an eternal flame burned. The name Delphoi comes from the root as δελφύς delphys, womb. Apollo is connected with the site by his epithet Δελφίνιος Delphinios, the epithet is connected with dolphins in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, recounting the legend of how Apollo first came to Delphi in the shape of a dolphin, carrying Cretan priests on his back. The Homeric name of the oracle is Pytho, another legend held that Apollo walked to Delphi from the north and stopped at Tempe, a city in Thessaly, to pick laurel which he considered to be a sacred plant. In commemoration of this legend, the winners at the Pythian Games received a wreath of laurel picked in the Temple, Delphi became the site of a major temple to Phoebus Apollo, as well as the Pythian Games and the famous prehistoric oracle. Even in Roman times, hundreds of votive statues remained, described by Pliny the Younger, additionally, according to Plutarchs essay on the meaning of the E at Delphi—the only literary source for the inscription—there was also inscribed at the temple a large letter E

64.
Delos
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The island of Delos, near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece. Delos had a position as a sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of Apollo. Established as a center, Delos had an importance that its natural resources could never have offered. Investigation of ancient stone huts found on the island indicate that it has been inhabited since the 3rd millennium BCE, thucydides identifies the original inhabitants as piratical Carians who were eventually expelled by King Minos of Crete. By the time of the Odyssey the island was famous as the birthplace of the twin gods Apollo. Indeed, between 900 BCE and 100 CE, sacred Delos was a cult centre, where Dionysus is also in evidence as well as the Titaness Leto. Eventually acquiring Panhellenic religious significance, Delos was initially a religious pilgrimage for the Ionians, a number of purifications were executed by the city-state of Athens in an attempt to render the island fit for the proper worship of the gods. The first took place in the 6th century BC, directed by the tyrant Pisistratus who ordered that all graves within sight of the temple be dug up and the bodies moved to another nearby island. In the 5th century, during the 6th year of the Peloponnesian war and under instruction from the Delphic Oracle, immediately after this purification, the first quinquennial festival of the Delian games were celebrated there. The island had no capacity for food, fiber, or timber. Limited water was exploited with a cistern and aqueduct system, wells. Strabo states that in 166 BCE the Romans converted Delos into a free port, Roman traders came to purchase tens of thousands of slaves captured by the Cilician pirates or captured in the wars following the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire. It became the center of the trade, with the largest slave market in the larger region being maintained here. The island was attacked in 88 BCE by the troops of Mithridates VI of Pontus, an enemy of Rome. Another devastating attack was by pirates in 69 BCE, before the end of the 1st century BCE, trade routes had changed, Delos was replaced by Puteoli as the chief focus of Italian trade with the East, and as a cult-centre too it entered a sharp decline. Due to the history, Delos - unlike other Greek islands - did not have an indigenous. As a result, in times it became uninhabited. Since 1872 the École française dAthènes has been excavating the island, in 1990, UNESCO inscribed Delos on the World Heritage List, citing it as the exceptionally extensive and rich archaeological site which conveys the image of a great cosmopolitan Mediterranean port

65.
Mount Athos
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Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in northeastern Greece and an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism. It is governed as an autonomous polity within the Greek Republic under the official name Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain, Mount Athos is home to 20 monasteries under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Mount Athos is commonly referred to in Greek as the Holy Mountain, other languages of orthodox tradition also use names translating to Holy Mountain. In the classical era, while the mountain was called Athos, the free movement of people and goods in its territory is prohibited, unless formal permission is granted by the Monastic States authorities, and only males are allowed to enter.6 square kilometres. The actual Mount Athos has steep, densely forested slopes reaching up to 2,033 metres, the surrounding seas, especially at the end of the peninsula, can be dangerous. In ancient Greek history two fleet disasters in the area are recorded, In 492 BC Darius, the king of Persia, in 411 BC the Spartans lost a fleet of 50 ships under admiral Epicleas. Though land-linked, Mount Athos is practically only by ferry. The Agios Panteleimon and Axion Estin travel daily between Ouranoupolis and Dafni, with stops at some monasteries on the western coast, there is also a smaller speed boat, the Agia Anna, which travels the same route, but with no intermediate stops. It is possible to travel by ferry to and from Ierissos for direct access to monasteries along the eastern coast, the number of daily visitors to Mount Athos is restricted, and all are required to obtain a special entrance permit valid for a limited period. Only males are permitted to visit the territory, which is called the Garden of Virgin Mary by the monks, residents on the peninsula must be males aged 18 and over who are members of the Eastern Orthodox Church and also either monks or workers. Athos in Greek mythology is the name of one of the Gigantes that challenged the Greek gods during the Gigantomachia, Athos threw a massive rock against Poseidon which fell in the Aegean sea and became Mount Athos. According to another version of the story, Poseidon used the mountain to bury the defeated giant, homer mentions the mountain Athos in the Iliad. Herodotus mentions the peninsula, then called Acte, telling us that Pelasgians from the island of Lemnos populated it and naming five cities thereon, Sane, Cleonae, Thyssos, Olophyxos, Strabo also mentions the cities of Dion and Acrothoï. Eretria also established colonies on Acte, at least one other city was established in the Classical period, Acanthus. Some of these cities minted their own coins, the peninsula was on the invasion route of Xerxes I, who spent three years excavating a channel across the isthmus to allow the passage of his invasion fleet in 483 BC. After the death of Alexander the Great, the architect Dinocrates proposed carvingg the entire mountain into a statue of Alexander, the history of the peninsula during latter ages is shrouded by the lack of historical accounts. Archaeologists have not been able to determine the location of the cities reported by Strabo. It is believed that they must have been deserted when Athos new inhabitants, according to the Athonite tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary was sailing accompanied by St John the Evangelist from Joppa to Cyprus to visit Lazarus

66.
Mycenae
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Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 kilometres southwest of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 kilometres to the south, Corinth,48 kilometres to the north, from the hill on which the palace was located, one can see across the Argolid to the Saronic Gulf. In the second millennium BC, Mycenae was one of the centres of Greek civilization. The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae, at its peak in 1350 BC, the citadel and lower town had a population of 30,000 and an area of 32 hectares. Although the citadel was built by Greeks, the name Mukanai is thought not to be Greek, legend has it that the name was connected to the Greek word mycēs. Thus, Pausanias ascribes the name to the legendary founder Perseus, the earliest written form of the name is Mykēnē, which is found in Homer. The reconstructed Mycenaean Greek name of the site is Mukānai, which has the form of a plural like Athānai, the change of ā to ē in more recent versions of the name is the result of a well-known sound change in later Attic-Ionic. An EH–MH settlement was discovered near a well on top of the Kalkani hill southwest of the acropolis. The first burials in pits or cist graves manifest in the MH period on the west slope of the acropolis, during the Bronze Age, the pattern of settlement at Mycenae was a fortified hill surrounded by hamlets and estates, in contrast to the dense urbanity on the coast. Richer grave goods mark the burials as possibly regal, mounds over the top contained broken drinking vessels and bones from a repast, testifying to a more than ordinary farewell. A walled enclosure, Grave Circle A, included six more shaft graves, with nine female, eight male, Grave goods were more costly than in Circle B. The presence of engraved and inlaid swords and daggers, with points and arrowheads, leave little doubt that warrior chieftains. Some art objects obtained from the graves are the Silver Siege Rhyton, the Mask of Agamemnon, the Cup of Nestor, Alan Wace divided the nine tholos tombs of Mycenae into three groups of three, each based on architecture. His earliest – the Cyclopean Tomb, Epano Phournos, and the Tomb of Aegisthus – are dated to LHIIA, burial in tholoi is seen as replacing burial in shaft graves. The care taken to preserve the shaft graves testifies that they were by then part of the royal heritage, being more visible, the tholoi all had been plundered either in antiquity, or in later historic times. Within these walls, much of which can still be seen, the final palace, remains of which are currently visible on the acropolis of Mycenae, dates to the start of LHIIIA,2. Earlier palaces must have existed, but they had cleared away or built over. The construction of palaces at that time with an architecture was general throughout southern Greece

Mycenae
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The Lion Gate at Mycenae.
Mycenae
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A view of the citadel.
Mycenae
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The Tomb of Aegisthus outside the walls of the citadel.
Mycenae
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View from the acropolis, or high city.

67.
Aulos
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An aulos or tibia was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology. An aulete was the musician who performed on an aulos, the ancient Roman equivalent was the tibicen, from the Latin tibia, pipe, aulos. There were several kinds of aulos, single or double, the most common variety was a reed instrument. Archeological finds, surviving iconography and other evidence indicate that it was double-reeded, like the modern oboe, a single pipe without a reed was called the monaulos. A single pipe held horizontally, as the flute, was the plagiaulos. A pipe with a bag to allow for sound, that is a bagpipe, was the askaulos. Like the Great Highland Bagpipe, the aulos has been used for martial music and it was the standard accompaniment of the passionate elegiac poetry. It also accompanied physical activities such as wrestling matches, the broad jump, plato associates it with the ecstatic cults of Dionysus and the Korybantes, banning it from his Republic but reintroducing it in Laws. It appears that some variants of the instrument were loud, shrill, sometimes a second strap was used over the top of the head to prevent the phorbeiá from slipping down. Aulos players are depicted with puffed cheeks. The playing technique almost certainly made use of breathing, very much like the Sardinian launeddas and Armenian duduk. Nevertheless, such musicians could achieve fame, the Romano-Greek writer Lucian discusses aulos playing in his dialogue Harmonides, in which Alexander the Greats aulete Timotheus discusses fame with his pupil Harmonides. Timotheus advises him to impress the experts within his profession rather than seek popular approval in big public venues, if leading musicians admire him, popular approval will follow. However, Lucian reports that Harmonides died from excessive blowing during practicing, in myth, Marsyas the satyr was supposed to have invented the aulos, or else picked it up after Athena had thrown it away because it caused her cheeks to puff out and ruined her beauty. But Apollo and his lyre beat Marsyas and his aulos, and since the pure lord of Delphis mind worked in different ways from Marsyass, he celebrated his victory by stringing his opponent up from a tree and flaying him alive. King Midas was cursed with donkeys ears for judging Apollo as the lesser player, Marsyass blood and the tears of the Muses formed the river Marsyas in Asia Minor. This tale was a warning against committing the sin of hubris, or overweening pride, some of this is a result of 19th century AD classical interpretation, i. e. Apollo versus Dionysus, or Reason opposed to Madness. In the temple to Apollo at Delphi, there was also a shrine to Dionysus, and his Maenads are shown on drinking cups playing the aulos, so a modern interpretation can be a little more complicated than just simple duality

Aulos
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Aulos
Aulos
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Drawing of a plagiaulos.
Aulos
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The competition between Marsyas and Apollo on a Roman sarcophagus (290–300)
Aulos
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Theatrical scene from a Pompeiianmosaic showing a masked performer with an aulos and two goatskin-wearing actors

68.
Tambourine
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The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called zils. Classically the term denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all. Tambourines are often used with regular percussion sets and they can be mounted, for example on a stand as part of a drum kit, or they can be held in the hands and played by tapping or hitting the instrument. Tambourines come in shapes with the most common being circular. It is found in forms of music, Turkish folk music, Greek folk music, Italian folk music, classical music, Persian music, samba, gospel music, pop music. Tambourines originated in Egypt, where they were known as the kof to the Hebrews, from the Middle Persian word tambūr lute, drum. There are several ways to achieve a tambourine roll, the easiest method is to rapidly rotate the hand holding the tambourine back and forth, pivoting at the wrist. An advanced playing technique is known as the thumb roll, the finger or thumb is moved over the skin or rim of the tambourine, producing a fast roll from the jingles on the instrument. This takes more skill and experience to master, the thumb or middle finger of the hand not holding the tambourine is run around the head of the instrument approximately one centimeter from the rim with some pressure applied. If performed correctly, the thumb should bounce along the head rapidly, usually, the end of the roll is articulated using the heel of the hand or another finger. In the 2000s, the roll may be performed with the use of wax or resin applied to the outside of the drum head. This resin allows the thumb or finger to bounce more rapidly and forcefully across the head producing an even sound, a continuous roll can be achieved by moving the thumb in a figure of 8 pattern around the head. By drummers – Drummers such as Larry Mullen, Jr. of U2 mount a tambourine above the cymbals of their hi-hat stand, tambourines in rock music are most often headless, a ring with jangles but no drum skin. The Rhythm Tech crescent-shaped tambourine and its derivatives are popular, the original Rhythm Tech tambourine is displayed in the Museum of Modern Art. Jack Ashfords distinctive tambourine playing was a dominant part of the section on Motown records. The tambourine was featured in Green Tambourine, a song with which The Lemon Pipers. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was among the earliest western composers to include the tambourine in his compositions, gustav Holsts seven-movement orchestral suite The Planets also features the tambourine in several places throughout the suite, especially in the Jupiter movement. Originated in Galicia or Portugal, the pandeiro was brought to Brazil by the Portuguese settlers and it is a hand percussion instrument consisting of a single tension-headed drum with jingles in the frame

Tambourine
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Tambourine
Tambourine
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Ancient Greek black-figure pottery depicting a girl playing the tambourine. Bourgas Archaeology Museum.
Tambourine
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Woman holding a mirror and a tambourine facing a winged genie with a ribbon and a branch with leaves. Ancient Greekred-figureoinochoe, ca. 320 BC, from Magna Graecia. (Notice the coloured decorative woven stripes hanging on the tambourine, which can still be seen today on "tamburello", the tambourine of Southern Italy.)
Tambourine
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Maenad playing a tympanum. Detail from the Triumph of Dionysus, on a Roman mosaic from Tunisia (3rd century AD)

69.
Laouto
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The laouto is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece and Cyprus, and similar in appearance to the oud. The name comes from the lute and it is played in most respects like the oud. Unlike the oud and other short-necked lutes, the laouto has a higher string tension due to its longer neck, the laouto also tends to have only one sound hole whereas the oud family tend to have three. In this respect and because the use of frets, the laouto more closely resembles the lute. The soundboard is made of spruce or cedar wood, while the body is usually made of a harder wood such as maple or walnut. This is a consonant with the construction of other lutes. The 11 frets of the neck are removable and made of nylon, up to 9 wooden frets, mounted on the soundboard, are fixed. The intervals of the frets may be more frequent than that of a guitar to permit the playing of maqams as found in the music of Byzantium, the strings of the laouto were traditionally of gut, although the modern laouto has steel strings similar to those of the bouzouki. The laoutos eight strings are paired, tuned an octave apart, the interval from one pair to the next is tuned in fifths. The Laouto has a re-entrant tuning, Gg tuned a fourth lower than Cc, the two primary contemporary variants of the laouto, one somewhat smaller than the other, are to be found on mainland Greece and on the island of Crete. In Cyprus, Cypriot laouto is tuned C - G - D - A, the role of the laouto in Greek traditional music is primarily that of accompaniment. The laouto is often played in a duo with the Cretan lyra or with the violin, lavta http, //www. we-love-crete. com/cretan-music. html Atlas of plucked musical instruments Solo Cretan laouto video

Laouto
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Different kinds of laouto, from the 19th and 20th centuries.

70.
Bouzouki
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A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin. There are two types of bouzouki. The trichordo has three pairs of strings, and the tetrachordo has four pairs of strings and it is in the same instrumental family as the mandolin and the lute. The type of the instrument used in Rembetika music was a three-stringed instrument, the Greek bouzouki is a plucked musical instrument of the lute family, called the thabouras or tambouras family. The tambouras has existed in ancient Greece as pandoura, and can be found in sizes, shapes, depths of body, lengths of neck. The bouzouki and the baglamas are the direct descendants, the Greek marble relief, known as the Mantineia Base, dating from 330-320 BC, shows a muse playing a variant of the pandoura. From Byzantine times it was called pandouras and then tambouras, on display in the National Historical Museum of Greece is the tambouras of a hero of the Greek revolution of 1821, General Makriyiannis. Other sizes have appeared and include the Greek instrument tzouras, an instrument smaller in size than standard bouzouki, following the 1919–1922 war in Asia Minor and the subsequent exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, the ethnic Greeks fled to Greece. The early bouzoukia were mostly three-string, with three courses and were tuned in different ways, as to the scale one wanted to play, at the end of the 1950s, four-course bouzoukia started to gain popularity. The four-course bouzouki was made popular by Manolis Chiotis, who used a tuning akin to standard guitar tuning. However it allowed for greater virtuosity and helped elevate the bouzouki into a popular instrument capable of a wide range of musical expression. Recently the 3 course bouzouki has gained in popularity, the first recording with the 4-course instrument was made in 1956. This is the style of bouzouki, introduced around 1900. It has fixed frets and 6 strings in three pairs, in the lower-pitched course, the pair consists of a thick wound string and a thin string, tuned an octave apart. The conventional modern tuning of the bouzouki is D3 D4•A3 A3•D4 D4. This tuning was called the European tuning by Markos Vamvakaris, who mentioned several other tunings, or douzenia, the illustrated bouzouki was made by Karolos Tsakirian of Athens, and is a replica of a trichordo bouzouki made by his grandfather for Markos Vamvakaris. The absence of the heavy mother-of-pearl ornamentation often seen on modern bouzoukia is typical of bouzoukia of the period and it has tuners for eight strings, but has only six strings, the neck being too narrow for eight

71.
Kostis Palamas
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Kostis Palamas was a Greek poet who wrote the words to the Olympic Hymn. He was a figure of the Greek literary generation of the 1880s and one of the cofounders of the so-called New Athenian School along with Georgios Drosinis, Nikos Kampas. Born in Patras, he received his primary and secondary education in Mesolonghi, in 1877 he enrolled at the School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences of the University of Athens, but he soon abandoned his studies. In 1880s, he worked as a journalist and he published his first collection of verses, the Songs of My Fatherland, in 1886. He held an administrative post at the University of Athens between 1897 and 1926, and died during the German occupation of Greece during World War II, Palamas wrote the lyrics to the Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras. It was first performed at the 1896 Summer Olympics, the first modern Olympic Games and he has been informally called the national poet of Greece and was closely associated with the struggle to rid Modern Greece of the purist language and with political liberalism. He dominated literary life for 30 or more years and greatly influenced the entire climate of his time. Romain Rolland considered him the greatest poet of Europe and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. His most important poem, The Twelve Lays of the Gypsy, is a poetical and philosophical journey, katsimbalis The Kings Flute, tr. F. Will The Twelve Lays of the Gypsy, tr. G. Thomson The Twelve Words of the Gypsy, tr

72.
Digenis Acritas
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Digenes Akrites, known in folksongs as Digenes Akritas and also transliterated as Digenis Akritis, is the most famous of the Acritic Songs. The epic details the life of the hero, Basil, whose epithet Digenes Akritas refers to his mixed Byzantine-Cappadocian Greek and Arab blood. The first part of the details the lives of his parents, how they met, and how his father. The remainder of the epic discusses, often from a point of view. The Digenes Akrites is a narrative text, although it is not in a pure epic-heroic style. No fewer than six manuscripts have been dedicated to stories about him. The oldest two are the Escorial and Grottaferrata versions, from the names of the libraries in which the manuscripts are held. While the form in which it has survived is not the product of oral composition, the common core of the two versions preserved in the E and G manuscripts goes back to the twelfth century. The text of E appears to be closer to the composition while G represents a version that is heavily marked by learned reworking. The Escorial version is the superior of the two in respect of the power and immediacy of the scenes and austerity of style. The epic descriptions of the knights and battles are marked by drama. The Byzantine-Arab conflicts that lasted from the 7th century to the early 11th century provide the context for Byzantine heroic poetry written in the vernacular Greek language. In the first, the Lay of the Emir, which bears more obviously the characteristics of epic poetry, the emir agrees to convert to Christianity for the sake of the daughter and resettle in Romania together with his people. The issue of their union is a son, Digenes Akritas, the second part of the work relates the development of the young hero and his superhuman feats of bravery and strength. As a boy, he goes hunting with his father and kills two bears unarmed, strangling the first to death and breaking the second ones spine and he also tears a hind in half with his bare hands, and slays a lion in the same manner. No one, not even the strong female warrior Maximu, with whom he commits the sin of adultery. Having defeated all his enemies Digenes builds a palace by the Euphrates. Cypriot legend has it that he grabbed hold of the Pentadaktylos mountain range north of Nicosia in order to leap to Asia Minor, the mountain range, as the name suggests, resembles five knuckles sprouting from the ground

73.
Greek wine
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Greece is one of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world and the first wine-producing territory in Europe. The earliest evidence of Greek wine has been dated to 6,500 years ago where wine was produced on a household or communal basis. In ancient times, as trade in wine became extensive, it was transported from end to end of the Mediterranean, in the medieval period, wines exported from Crete, Monemvasia and other Greek ports fetched high prices in northern Europe. The spread of Greek civilization and their worship of Dionysus, the god of wine, hippocrates used wine for medicinal purposes and readily prescribed it. Greek wines and their varieties were known and traded throughout the Mediterranean. The Ancient Greeks introduced vines such as Vitis vinifera and made wine in their numerous colonies in Italy, Sicily, southern France, the Vitis vinifera grape which thrives in temperate climates near coastal areas with mild winters and dry summers adapted well and flourished in the Northern Mediterranean areas. The most reputable wines of ancient Greece were Chian, Coan, Corcyraean, Cretan, Euboean, Lesbian, Leucadian, Mendaean, Peparethan wine, Wine was also important for ancient Macedonia. Two other names may or may not be regional, Bibline wine and Pramnian wine are named in the earliest Greek poetry, in 1937, a Wine Institute was established by the Ministry of Agriculture. During the 1960s, retsina suddenly became the national beverage, with rapidly growing tourism, retsina became associated worldwide with Greece and Greek wine. Greece’s first Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard was planted in 1963, in 1971 and 1972, legislation established appellation laws. A system of appellations was implemented to assure consumers the origins of their wine purchases and its sensory attributes are similar to Beaujolais Nouveau but, unlike its French counterpart, the St. George ages well for about 5 years. Xinomavro is the predominant grape variety in Macedonia, centered on the town of Naousa and this variety has great aging potential with a palate reminiscent of tomatoes and olives, and a rich tannic character. It is often compared to Nebbiolo, Limnio, or Kalambaki is an important red grape variety that is indigenous to the Aegean island of Lemnos and has been used in red wine production for more than 2000 years. As a varietal wine Limnio is full-bodied, high in alcohol and very herbaceous, Mandilaria, also known as amorgiano, is mainly cultivated on the islands of Rhodes and Crete. Wine from this grape is very tannic and frequently blended with other grapes to soften the mouthfeel. Mavrodaphne, or black laurel, is a variety that grows in the Peloponnese and it is blended with the Black Corinth currant grape to produce a prized fortified dessert wine made in the Solera style. Kotsifali is a variety grown on Crete. It is blended with Mandilaria or Syrah to enhance its color, Vertzami Vertzami is a thick, dark-skinned grape variety grown

74.
Souvlaki
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Souvlaki, plural souvlakia, is a popular Greek fast food consisting of small pieces of meat and sometimes vegetables grilled on a skewer. It is usually served with grilled bread, or in a wrap with garnishes and sauces, or on a dinner plate. The meat usually used in Greece and Cyprus is pork, although chicken, beef, in other countries and for tourists, souvlaki may be made with meats such as lamb, beef, chicken and sometimes fish. The word souvlaki is a diminutive of the Medieval Greek σούβλα souvla skewer, Souvlaki is the common term in northern Greece, while in southern Greece it is commonly known as kalamaki. Excavations in Santorini, Greece, unearthed stone sets of barbecue for skewers used before the 17th century BC, mycenaean Greeks used portable trays as grills. Homer in Iliad mentions pieces of meat roasted on spits and it is mentioned also amongst others in the works of Aristophanes, Xenophon, Aristotle, etc. A meat and bread recipe which resembles the way pita souvlaki is served today, with bread was also attested by Athenaeus in Deipnosophistae and called the plate κάνδαυλος. Kalamaki is a synonym for souvlaki proper in Athens, where the word Souvlaki is used colloquially for any kind of pita wraps. While souvlaki is eaten plain on hand as a fast food, it is served as a full plate, served with fried potatoes, vegetables, sauce. Usually it consists of the ingredients of a souvlaki-pita, but laid out on a plate, pita is a form of partially leavened flat round bread with a diameter of approximately 15 cm, used to wrap souvlaki or yiros. It comes pre-baked and will additionally be grilled on the meat drippings just before serving and this course consists of souvlaki meat garnished with sliced tomatoes and onions, fried potatoes, tzatziki, and wrapped in a lightly grilled pita. Salads like ketchup and mustard, ktipiti, Russian salad or melitzanosalata can also be used as an extra option, in Athens and southern Greece it is called pita-kalamaki. Any of these components may not be included, at the request of the customer, hungry customers may occasionally request a two-pita wrapping and/or a double meat serving. In Corfu, a tomato sauce is added to souvlaki. In Cyprus, souvlaki can refer both to the chunks of meat on a skewer, and to the dish. It is made with a large pita that has a pocket-style opening, into this is placed the meat, which in Cypriot souvlaki is cut into slightly larger chunks. Tomatoes, cucumbers and shredded white cabbage are the usual salad additions, onion, parsley, and pickled green chili peppers are popular accompaniments, as are yogurt and tzatziki. Cut lemons are always included with souvlaki, as they are all grilled meats in Cyprus

75.
Feta
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Feta is a brined curd white cheese made in Greece from sheeps milk, or from a mixture of sheep and goats milk. Similar brined white cheeses produced in Europe are often partly or wholly of cows milk. It is an aged cheese, commonly produced in blocks. Feta is used as a cheese, as well as in salads. Most notable is its use in the popular phyllo-based dishes spanakopita and tyropita, or served with olive oil or olives. It can also be served cooked or grilled, as part of a sandwich, in omelettes, since 2002, feta has been a protected designation of origin product in the European Union. However, similar white-brined cheeses are found in the Eastern Mediterranean, feta is a soft brined white cheese with small or no holes, a compact touch, few cuts, and no skin. It is usually formed into blocks, which are submerged in brine. Its flavor is tangy and salty, ranging from mild to sharp and its maximum moisture is 56%, its minimum fat content in dry matter is 43%, and its pH usually ranges from 4.4 to 4.6. Feta is traditionally categorized into firm and soft varieties, the firm variety is tangier and considered higher quality. The soft variety is almost soft enough to be spreadable, mostly used in pies, when sliced, feta always produces a varying amount of trímma, crumble, which is also used in pies, trímma is not sellable and is usually given away for free upon request. High-quality feta should have a creamy texture when sampled, and aromas of ewes milk, butter, in the mouth it is tangy, slightly salty, and mildly sour, with a spicy finish that recalls pepper and ginger, as well as a hint of sweetness. Traditionally, feta is produced using only whole sheeps milk, or a blend of sheeps, the milk may be pasteurized or not, but most producers now use pasteurized milk. When the pasteurized milk has cooled to approximately 35 °C, rennet is added, the compacted curds are then cut up and placed in a special mould or a cloth bag to allow the whey to drain. Feta dries relatively quickly even when refrigerated, if stored for longer than a week, cheese made from sheeps/goats milk was a common food in ancient Greece and an integral component of later Greek gastronomy. Feta cheese, specifically, is first recorded in the Byzantine Empire under the name prósphatos, and was produced by the Cretans and the Vlachs of Thessaly. In the late 15th century, an Italian visitor to Candia, Pietro Casola, describes the marketing of feta, the Greek word feta comes from the Italian word fetta, which in turn is derived from the Latin word offa. In 2013, an agreement was reached with Canada in which made in Canada would be called feta style cheese

76.
Olive oil
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Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives, a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The oil is produced by pressing whole olives and it is commonly used in cooking, whether for frying or as a salad dressing. It is also used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps, and as a fuel for oil lamps. It is associated with the Mediterranean diet for its health benefits. The olive is one of three core food plants in Mediterranean cuisine, the two are wheat and grapes. Olive trees have grown around the Mediterranean since the 8th millennium BC. Spain is the largest producer of oil, followed by Italy. However, per capita consumption is highest in Greece, followed by Spain, Italy, consumption in North America and northern Europe is far less, but rising steadily. The composition of oil varies with the cultivar, altitude, time of harvest. It consists mainly of acid, with smaller amounts of other fatty acids including linoleic acid. The olive tree is native to the Mediterranean basin, wild olives were collected by Neolithic peoples as early as the 8th millennium BC, the wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor or in ancient Greece. It is not clear when and where trees were first domesticated, in Asia Minor, in the Levant. Archeological evidence shows that olives were turned into oil by 6000 BC and 4500 BC in present-day Palestine. Until 1500 BC, eastern areas of the Mediterranean were most heavily cultivated. Evidence also suggests that olives were being grown in Crete as long ago as 2,500 BC, the cultivation of olive trees in Crete became particularly intense in the post-palatial period and played an important role in the islands economy, as it did across the Mediterranean. Recent genetic studies suggest that species used by modern cultivators descend from multiple wild populations, Olive trees and oil production in the Eastern Mediterranean can be traced to archives of the ancient city-state Ebla, which were located on the outskirts of the Syrian city Aleppo. Here some dozen documents dated 2400 BC describe lands of the king and these belonged to a library of clay tablets perfectly preserved by having been baked in the fire that destroyed the palace. A later source is the frequent mentions of oil in the Tanakh, dynastic Egyptians before 2000 BC imported olive oil from Crete, Syria and Canaan and oil was an important item of commerce and wealth

77.
Retsina
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Retsina is a Greek white resinated wine, which has been made for at least 2000 years. Its unique flavor is said to have originated from the practice of sealing wine vessels, particularly amphorae, before the invention of impermeable glass bottles, oxygen caused many wines to spoil within the year. Pine resin helped keep air out, while at the same time infusing the wine with resin aroma. The Romans began to use barrels in the 3rd century AD, removing any oenological necessity for resin and he recommended, however, that the very best wines should not be mixed with resin because of the unpleasant flavor introduced thereby. By the 3rd century, barrel making was prevalent throughout the Roman Empire, the exception was the eastern empire regions of Byzantium which had developed a taste for the strong, pungent wine and continued to produce resinated wine long after the western Roman empire stopped. The difference in taste between the two empires took center stage in the work of the historian Liutprand of Cremona and his Relatio de Legatione Constantinopolitana. In 968, Liutprand was sent to Constantinople to arrange a marriage between the daughter of the late Emperor Romanos II and the future Holy Roman Emperor Otto II. Pilgrims and Crusaders to the Holy Land during the Middle Ages recorded their experiences with the strong, pietro Casola, an Italian noble who traveled to Jerusalem in 1494, wrote about the wines and cuisines of the places he stopped at along the way. In one of his entries, about his visit to Modone on Peloponnese, he wrote about the bounty of good quality wines made from Malmsey, Muscatel, everything he tried was pleasing, except the strong, resinated wine with an unpleasant odor. Popular anecdotes about the evolution of retsina stem from the Roman conquest of Greece, stories claim that the Romans plundered the wines of Greece, angering the citizens who turned to pine resin as a way of extending their store of wine and as a deterrent to their thirsty conquerors. The harsh flavor was said to put off the Romans, who refused to drink the bitter ferment, another anecdote claims that an excess of undiluted retsina was lethal for King Eric I of Denmark and Sigurd I of Norway. In Greece, local Retsina is produced throughout the country, major production centers around Attica, Boeotia and Euboea. The European Union treats the name Retsina as a designation of origin and traditional appellation for Greece. An Australian wine style made in South Australia can be called resinated wine, today the traditional grape for Retsina is Savatiano with Assyrtiko and Rhoditis sometimes blended in, as well as other grape varieties throughout Greece. On the island of Rhodes, Athiri is the main grape, modern Retsina is made following the same winemaking techniques of white wine or rosé with the exception of small pieces of Aleppo pine resin added to the must during fermentation. The pieces stay mixed with the must, and elute an oily resin film on the surface, at racking the wine is clarified. Nowadays, protecting the new wine from oxidation is easy to do with far simpler means, media related to Retsina at Wikimedia Commons

78.
Ouzo
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Ouzo is an anise-flavoured aperitif that is widely consumed in Greece and Cyprus. Its taste is similar to other anise liquors like pastis, sambuca, arak, rakı, and mastika, Ouzo has its roots in tsipouro, which is said to have been the work of a group of 14th-century monks on Mount Athos. One version of it was flavoured with anise and this version eventually came to be called ouzo. Modern ouzo distillation largely took off in the beginning of the 19th century following Greek independence, the first ouzo distillery was founded in Tyrnavos in 1856 by Nikolaos Katsaros, giving birth to the famous ouzo Tyrnavou. When absinthe fell into disfavour in the early 20th century, ouzo was one of the products whose popularity rose to fill the gap, in 1932, ouzo producers developed a method of distillation using copper stills that is now the standard method of production. Ouzo is traditionally mixed with water, becoming cloudy white, sometimes with a faint blue tinge, Ouzo can also be drunk straight from a shot glass. Ouzo is traditionally served with a plate of a variety of appetizers called mezes, usually small fresh fish, fries, olives. Ouzo can be described to have a taste to absinthe which is liquorice-like. On October 25,2006, Greece won the right to label ouzo as an exclusively Greek product, there is an ouzo museum in Plomari, Lesvos. The origin of the name ouzo is disputed, a popular derivation is from the Italian uso Massalia—for use in Marseille—stamped on selected silkworm cocoons exported from Tyrnavos in the 19th century. According to anecdote, this came to stand for superior quality. During a visit to Thessaly in 1896, the late professor Alexander Philadelpheus delivered to us valuable information on the origins of the word ouzo, which has come to replace the word tsipouro. One day, the Ottoman Greek consulate physician, named Anastas Bey, upon tasting the drink, the physician immediately exclaimed, This is uso Massalia, my friends—referring to its high quality. The term subsequently spread by word of mouth, until tsipouro gradually became known as ouzo, —The Times of Thessaly,1959 However, the major Greek dictionaries derive it from the Turkish word üzüm grape. Ouzo production begins with distillation in copper stills of 96 percent alcohol by volume rectified spirit, anise is added, sometimes with other flavorings such as star anise, fennel, mastic, cardamom, coriander, cloves, and cinnamon. The flavoring ingredients are often closely guarded company recipes, and distinguish one ouzo from another, the ouzo yeast is then distilled. After several hours of distillation, a distillate of approximately 80 ABV is produced. The spirit at the beginning of the distillation and end is removed to avoid light and heavy alcohols

79.
Theotokos
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Theotokos is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations, Dei Genetrix or Deipara, are translated as Mother of God or God-bearer, the Council of Ephesus decreed in 431 that Mary is the Theotokos because her son Jesus is both God and man, one divine person with two natures intimately and hypostatically united. Similar to this is the title of Mother of God, Mother of God is most often used in English, largely due to the lack of a satisfactory equivalent of Greek τόκος / Latin genetrix. The title has been in use since the 3rd century, in the Syriac tradition in the Liturgy of Mari and Addai, Theotokos is an adjectival compound of two the Greek words Θεός God and τόκος childbirth, parturition, offspring. A close paraphrase would be whose offspring is God or who gave birth to one who was God, the usual English translation is simply Mother of God, Latin uses Deipara or Dei Genetrix. The Church Slavonic translation is Bogoroditsa, in an abbreviated form, ΜΡ ΘΥ, it often is found on Eastern icons, where it is used to identify Mary. The Russian term is Матерь Божия, variant forms are the compounds Θεομήτωρ and Μητρόθεος, which are found in patristic and liturgical texts. The theological dispute over the term concerned the term Θεός God vs. Χριστός Christ, and not τόκος vs. μήτηρ, to make it explicit, it is sometimes translated Mother of God Incarnate. This decree created the Nestorian Schism, Cyril of Alexandria wrote, I am amazed that there are some who are entirely in doubt as to whether the holy Virgin should be called Theotokos or not. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how is the holy Virgin who gave birth, not. But the argument of Nestorius was that divine and human natures of Christ were distinct, at issue is the interpretation of the Incarnation, and the nature of the hypostatic union of Christs human and divine natures between Christs conception and birth. Within the Orthodox doctrinal teaching on the economy of salvation, Marys identity, role, for this reason, it is formally defined as official dogma. The only other Mariological teaching so defined is that of her virginity, both of these teachings have a bearing on the identity of Jesus Christ. The term was certainly in use by the 3rd century, athanasius of Alexandria in 330, Gregory the Theologian in 370, John Chrysostom in 400, and Augustine all used theotokos. Origen is often cited as the earliest author to use theotokos for Mary, although this testimony is uncertain, the term was used c.250 by Dionysius of Alexandria, in an epistle to Paul of Samosata. The Greek version of the hymn Sub tuum praesidium contains the term, in the vocative, the oldest record of this hymn is a papyrus found in Egypt, mostly dated to after 450. But according to a suggestion by de Villiers possibly older, dating to the mid-3rd century, the use of Theotokos was formally affirmed at the Third Ecumenical Council held at Ephesus in 431. Nestorius opponents, led by Cyril of Alexandria, viewed this as dividing Jesus into two persons, the human who was Son of Mary, and the divine who was not

80.
Saint Andrew
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Andrew the Apostle, also known as Saint Andrew and called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos or the First-called, was a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name Andrew, like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews, Christians, no Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him. According to Orthodox tradition, the successor to Saint Andrew is the Patriarch of Constantinople. The New Testament states that Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter and he was born in the village of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. Both he and his brother Peter were fishermen by trade, hence the tradition that Jesus called them to be his disciples by saying that he make them fishers of men. At the beginning of Jesus public life, they were said to have occupied the house at Capernaum. In the Gospel of Matthew and in the Gospel of Mark Simon Peter and these narratives record that Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, observed Simon and Andrew fishing, and called them to discipleship. In the parallel incident in the Gospel of Luke Andrew is not named, the narrative indicates that Simon was not the only fisherman in the boat but it is not until the next chapter that Andrew is named as Simons brother. However, it is understood that Andrew was fishing with Simon on the night in question. Matthew Poole, in his Annotations on the Holy Bible, stressed that Luke denies not that Andrew was there. In contrast, the Gospel of John states that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, whose testimony first led him, Andrew at once recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and hastened to introduce him to his brother. Thenceforth, the two brothers were disciples of Christ, on a subsequent occasion, prior to the final call to the apostolate, they were called to a closer companionship, and then they left all things to follow Jesus. Subsequently, in the gospels, Andrew is referred to as being present on important occasions as one of the disciples more closely attached to Jesus. Andrew told Jesus about the boy with the loaves and fishes, Andrew was present at the Last Supper. Andrew was one of the four disciples who came to Jesus on the Mount of Olives to ask about the signs of Jesus return at the end of the age, Eusebius in his church history 3,1 quoted Origen as saying that Andrew preached in Scythia. The Chronicle of Nestor adds that he preached along the Black Sea and the Dnieper river as far as Kiev, hence, he became a patron saint of Ukraine, Romania and Russia. According to tradition, he founded the See of Byzantium in AD38, according to Hippolytus of Rome, Andrew preached in Thrace, and his presence in Byzantium is also mentioned in the apocryphal Acts of Andrew. Basil of Seleucia also knew of Apostle Andrews missions in Thrace, Scythia and this diocese would later develop into the Patriarchate of Constantinople

81.
Saint George
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Saint George, according to legend, was a Roman soldier of Syrian origin and officer in the Guard of Roman emperor Diocletian, who ordered his death for failing to recant his Christian faith. As a Christian martyr, he became one of the most venerated saints in Christianity. In hagiography, as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and one of the most prominent military saints, he is immortalised in the myth of Saint George and his memorial, Saint Georges Day, is traditionally celebrated on April 23. Numerous countries, cities, professions and organisations claim Saint George as their patron, accounts differ regarding whether George was born in Cappadocia or Syria Palaestina, but agree that he was raised at least partly in Lydda. There is little information on the life of Saint George. Two stories tell of his possible origins, one says that he was born in the region of Cappadocia, which is now located in central Turkey. Georges parents were both Christian, and they brought him up to be a Christian and his father died when he was fourteen, and his mother took George back to her homeland of Palestine. At seventeen, he joined the Roman army, a second story says that Georges father came from Cappadocia. His mother was from Lydda, in Palestine, and George was born in Lydda, both of his parents were from noble Syrian families and gave him the Greek name of Georgios. Georges father had been an officer in the Roman army, so George joined the Roman army as soon as he could, an earlier work by Eusebius, Church history, written in the 4th century, contributed to the legend but did not name George or provide significant detail. A critical edition of a Syriac Acta of Saint George, accompanied by an annotated English translation, was published by E. W. Brooks in 1925. Pope Gelasius I stated that George was among those whose names are justly reverenced among men. The traditional legends have offered a narration of Georges encounter with a dragon. The modern legend that follows below is synthesised from early and late hagiographical sources, chief among the legendary sources about the saint is the Golden Legend, which remains the most familiar version in English owing to William Caxtons 15th-century translation. At the age of 14, George lost his father, a few years later, George then decided to go to Nicomedia and present himself to Diocletian to apply for a career as a soldier. Diocletian welcomed him with arms, as he had known his father. By his late twenties, George was promoted to the rank of military tribune, however, George objected, and with the courage of his faith, approached the Emperor and ruler. Diocletian was upset, not wanting to lose his best tribune, but George loudly renounced the Emperors edict, and in front of his fellow soldiers and tribunes he claimed himself to be a Christian

Saint George
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Portrait by Hans von Kulmbach, circa 1510
Saint George
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Saint George Killing the Dragon, 1434/35, by Martorell
Saint George
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St George the dragon-slayer
Saint George
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The martyrdom of Saint George, by Paolo Veronese, 1564

82.
Saint Nicholas
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Saint Nicholas, also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century Christian saint and Greek Bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor. Because of the miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker. The historical Saint Nicholas is commemorated and revered among Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, in addition, some Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and other Reformed churches have been named in honor of Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas is the saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers. The historical Saint Nicholas, as known from history, He was born at Patara. In his youth he made a pilgrimage to Egypt and the Palestine area, shortly after his return he became Bishop of Myra and was later cast into prison during the persecution of Diocletian. He was released after the accession of Constantine and was present at the Council of Nicaea, in 1087, Italian merchants took his body from Myra, bringing it to Bari in Italy. Nicholas was born in Asia Minor in the Roman Empire, to a Greek family during the century in the city of Patara. He lived in Myra, Lycia, at a time when the region was Greek in its heritage, culture and he was the only son of wealthy Christian parents named Epiphanius and Johanna according to some accounts and Theophanes and Nonna according to others. He was very religious from an age and according to legend. His wealthy parents died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young and he tonsured the young Nicholas as a reader and later ordained him a presbyter. In the year AD305, several monks from Anatolia in Asia Minor came to the Holy Land to Beit Jala, Judea and this was before St. Sava’s Monastery was founded in the desert east of Bethlehem on the Kidron Gorge near the Dead Sea. These monks lived on the mountain overlooking Bethlehem in a few caves, in the years 312–315, St. Nicholas lived there and came as a pilgrim to visit the Holy Sepulchre, Golgotha, Bethlehem, and many other sites in the Holy Land. The Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church is located on the site of his cave in Beit Jala where today there are stories about Nicholas still handed down from generation to generation. A text written in his own hand is still in the care of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, in 317 he returned to Asia Minor and was soon thereafter consecrated bishop in Myra. In 325, he was one of many bishops to answer the request of Constantine and appear at the First Council of Nicaea, there, Nicholas was a staunch anti-Arian, defender of the Orthodox Christian position, and one of the bishops who signed the Nicene Creed. Tradition has it that he became so angry with the heretic Arius during the Council that he struck him in the face. The modern city of Demre, Turkey is built near the ruins of the home town of ancient Myra

Saint Nicholas
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Russian icon depicting St Nicholas with scenes from his life. Late 15th century or early 16th century. National Museum, Stockholm.
Saint Nicholas
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Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy where most of the relics of St. Nicholas are kept today.
Saint Nicholas
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The church of San Nicolò al Lido (Venice), hosts half of Nicolas' relics
Saint Nicholas
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Supposed effigy of St. Nicholas near Thomastown, Ireland.

83.
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Greece
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The coat of arms of Greece displays a white cross on a blue escutcheon, which is surrounded by two laurel branches. The constitution does not specify a tincture for the branches, implying proper, the Greek government normally uses a design in which the laurel branches are monochrome blue. A version with golden laurel leaves is displayed by the military, the first Greek coat of arms was introduced during the reign of the Bavarian King Otto. Based on that of the Kingdom of Bavaria, and supported by two crowned lions rampant and surmounted by the royal crown, the escutcheon of pretence was the coat of arms of Bavaria, as a symbol of the House of Wittelsbach. This emblem was discarded upon the kings exile in 1862, when Greece became a republic in 1924, all external ornamentation was discarded. After Ottos fall, the young Prince William of Denmark was in 1864 chosen as king, the escutcheon remained the same, but the dynastic arms of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg family became the new escutcheon of pretence. The shield remained surmounded by the royal crown, two new male figures were introduced as new supporters, alluding to the legendary Heracles. The Order of the Redeemer was also added, the motto of the dynasty, i. e. Ἰσχύς μου ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ λαοῦ, was also introduced. This achievement remains in use by the current pretender Greek Royal Family, in 1973, the then-ruling military junta abolished the monarchy. 7 June 1975, the current arms was introduced and this is a restoration of the traditional arms, yet with laurel leaves being the sole external ornamentation. The government uses a design by the artist Kostas Grammatopoulos. The first Greek national emblem was provided for by the Constitution of Epidauros of 1 January 1822 and was established by decree on 15 March of the same year and it was the shape of a blue and white circular cockade. Since it was first established the emblem has undergone changes in shape and in design. The original Greek national emblem depicted the goddess Athena and the owl, at the time of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Prime Minister of modern Greece, the phoenix, the symbol of rebirth, was added